ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



813 



the Groupers; the Snook or Robalo (Centro- 

 pomis undecimalis) ; the Southern Puffer 

 {Sphaeroides spengleri) or swell-fish, and Scor- 

 pion and Toad Fishes. New additions of in- 

 vertebrates in the same collections are four spe- 

 cies of Conchs, green hermit crab, spider crab, 

 starfish, blunt-spined sea-urchin and a basket- 

 star. 



The California Sea Lion. — The sea lion which 

 has spent four years in the Aquarium began 

 during the past summer to show unmistakable 

 signs of the enlargement or crest on the top of 

 the head, so characteristic of old males of this 

 species. Allen (North American Pinnipeds) 

 says in regard to this matter, "the sagittal crest, 

 in very old males, forms a remarkably high, 

 thin, bony plate, unparalleled in its great de- 

 velopment in any other genus of the family 



of Professor Charles B. Davenport, Director of 

 the Carnegie Laboratory at Cold Spring Har- 

 bor, Long Island. The Short Big-eye, as this 

 fish is also called, is a resident of deeper waters 

 of the West Indies, but the young occasionally 

 drift northward in the Gulf Stream. A num- 

 ber of specimens have been taken about Woods 

 Hole, Massachusetts, and one is recorded from 

 as far north as Marblehead, Massachusetts. 

 One specimen is known from New Jersey at At- 

 lantic City, and as far as known the present 

 record is the first for the State of New York. 

 The entire body of the fish is brilliantly red, 

 and the fins, except the pectoral, are tipped with 

 black. The large eye is exceptionally beautiful 

 and glows like molten gold. The little fellow, 

 which is about two inches long, was placed in a 

 tank with the sea horses where he feeds vora- 

 ciously on the small Crustacea which also con- 

 stitute the diet of the sea horses. R. C. O. 



(Otariidae) .... and, contrarj- to what usu- 

 ally obtains in the other genera of this family, 

 is considerably developed in very old females." 

 According to the best information obtainable 

 this sea lion is now between six and seven years 

 of age, as at the time of his arrival at the Aquar- 

 ium in October, 1907, he was said to be past 

 two years old. From this we maj' judge that 

 the sea lion attains full maturitj' at about the 

 same age as the fur seal which is known to reach 

 sufficient size to fight for and maintain a harem 

 at seven years. R. C. O. 



The Redfish. — A most interesting little fish, 

 exhibited for the first time at the Aquarium, is 

 a young specimen of Pseudopriacanthus alius 

 received August 17, 1911, through the kindness 



KEY WEST FISHES AT THE AQUARIUM. 



WHILE it is a well known fact that locali- 

 ties similarly situated as to latitude and 

 environment are likely in general to have 

 similar faunas, it is equally true that such locali- 

 ties if separated by a considerable distance may 

 present interesting differences in the minor de- 

 tails of their faunas. Thus a species which is 

 common in one locality may often be represented 

 in a similar localitj' by another species of the 

 same genus or even by some other genus which 

 parallels it in appearance by reason of similar 

 liabits of life. 



In past 3-ears all of our tropical fishes have 

 been obtained from Bermuda, but this past sum- 

 mer Mr. Chapman Grant of the Aquarium staff 

 made a special trip to Key West to supplement 



