PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 137 



2. Xiphister rupestris sp. nov. 



Besides the foregoing species, which is distinguishable at sight from 

 Xiphister wucosus, a second species occurs in great abundance among 

 the rocks about Monterey. This species is more nearly allied to X. mu- 

 cosus, agreeing with it in form of body, mouth, teeth, and arrangement 

 of the lateral lines; differing in the coloration of the head, in the num- 

 ber of dorsal and anal rays, in the insertion of the dorsal and anal fins, 

 and in the size of the pectoral fins. A description of these i)oints will 

 suftice, without the enumeration of features common to all the species 

 of the genus. 



The life coloration of Xiphister mueosus is blackish green, becoming 

 pale green on the belly and sides of the head; toward the tail the black- 

 ish is commonly broken with much olive- green in various patterns; 

 a transverse light-greenish bar at base of caudal, which extends to the 

 dorsal and anal fins. Radiating backward from the eye are three olive- 

 brown streaks, these much lighter in the center and edged above and 

 below with blackish, outside of which is sometimes a streak of light 

 green. These streaks all merge backward in the olive-green of the 

 head. The upi)er streak Irom the eye toward the occiput is generally 

 obsolete or small and indistinct; the middle streak is wedge-shaped, 

 with the edges straight or nearly so; it is but slightly more than one- 

 third the length of the head; the third streak terminates before reach- 

 ing the margin of the preopercle. A very old example, over a foot lojig, 

 has a difi'use yellow blotch on the back anteriorly. 



In Xiphister rupestris the life coloration is olive-brown or reddish 

 brown, uniform or variously marked and shaded with lighter; a light 

 olivaceous bar at base of caudal, extending on dorsal and anal; behind 

 this a blackish area; the tip of the caudal usually pale. Three long, 

 well-defined streaks radiating backward from the eye, these streaks 

 uniform black, overlaying the olive cheeks, and abruptly margined with 

 very light olive; the upper streak is more distinct than in X. mueosus; 

 the central streak proceeds straight backward from the eye, half the 

 breadth of the cheeks, at which point it is broadest; it is then narrowed 

 and bent abruptly downward ; both the middle and lower streak reach 

 the margin of the preopercle, the length of the middle streak being 

 three-sevenths that of the head. 



In Xiphister mueosus the dorsal fin begins anteriorly, nearly as in 

 Xiphister chiriis, the distance from its origin to the occijiut heing less 

 than that from the occiput to the tip of the snout. The origin of the anal 

 fin is nearly midway from the snout to the tip of the caudal, it being 

 nearer the snout than the tip of the caudal fin by from one-third to two- 

 thirds the length of the head. The fin rays are pretty constantly 

 D. LXXIII, A. 48. The pectoral fin is as long as the eye. 



In Xiphister rupestris the dorsal fin begins farther back, the distance 

 from its origin to the occiput being one-third greater than the distance from 

 the occiput to the snout. The anal fin begins much in advance of the 



