XV. HEPSETIA 31 



to a little behind the end, of the anal base, contained 1.6 times in the 

 head ; anal base also shorter than head. Insertion of ventrals equi- 

 distant from origin of anal and from hind part of eye, as in A. elymus. 

 Coloration dark, blackish on middle of dorsal scales, on the bases of 

 the vertical fins, on top of head behind middle of eyes, on the snout, on 

 the sides of the lower jaw, and over the surface of the gill chamber. 

 The dark lateral band, as broad as the snout is long, was probably overlaid 

 with silvery in life, as in Atherina; it becomes narrow posteriorly, but 

 dilated again at base of caudal. Dorsal and caudal fins dusky^ the others 

 clear. 



XV. HEPSETIAfconaparte, 1837. 



Hepsetia Bonaparte, Fauna lialica, fasc. 91, no pagination ; Jordan, Copeia, 47, No. 

 32, 1916. 

 Orthotype. — Atherina boyeri Risso. 

 Atherinomorus Fowler, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 40, 730, 1904. 



Orthotype. — Atherina laticeps Poey (= Atherina stipes Muller and Troschel). 

 Range. — Shores of the tropical Atlantic from Florida southward ; Mediterranean 

 Sea ; Red Sea ; Indian Ocean ; East Indies ; southern Japan ; Hawaiian 

 Islands ; Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. 



This genus, which we separate from Atherina as currently recog- 

 nized, was indicated as an unnamed group by Cuvier and Valenciennes, 

 and named by Bonaparte and later by Fowler. Fowler was the first to 

 note the taxonomic value of the shape of the lower jaw. In Hepsetia, the 

 rami of the mandibles are more slender in form than in Atherina; the 

 upper edge straight, not abruptly elevated behind. In the various regions 

 where they both occur, the two groups are usually distinguishable by 

 means of a combination of other characters, a fact strongly indicating 

 that the distinction of the groups is natural. None of the differential 

 characters when considered alone, however, is very sharply defined. The 

 species of the group we call Hepsetia usually differ from those of 

 typical Atherina in their shorter and blunter premaxillary spine, the 

 shorter and more rounded snout, the larger eye, wider interorbital, longer 

 head, deeper body, and larger scales. 



(f% 25. Hepsetia boyeri (Risso). 1810.'^«- 



Atherina hepsetus, var. 3 Delaroche, Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, 13, 357, 1809. 

 Atherina boyeri Risso, Ichth. Nice, 338, pi. 10, fig. 38, 1810; Gitnther, Catalogue 

 Fishes Brit. Mus., 3, 394, 1861 (in part) ; Borsieri Ann. Agricolt., 31, pi. 8 1902 

 (1904). 

 Atherina boieri Cuvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., 10, 432, pi. 303, 



1835. 

 Type-locality. — Nice, France. 

 Range. — Mediterranean Sea. 



