50- ATHERINID.E: SILVERSIDES 



dorsal origin before or over origin of anal fin ; second dorsal beginning 

 a little before middle of anal base ; anal fin beginning well before middle 

 of length of body, excluding head and caudal fin; pectoral shorter than 

 head, reaching past vertical from the insertion of ventral, which is as 

 far from, or slightly farther from, the upper angle of the pectoral base 

 than from the origin of the anal. Fishes of small size, attaining a length 

 of three to six inches. 



Subgenus ISCHNOMEMBRAS Fowler. 



80. Menidia beryllina (Cope), 1866.-^'- 



? Atherinichthys gracilis Giinther, Catalogue Fishes Brit. Mus., 3, 405, 1861. 



Menidia gracilis Jordan and Evennann, Bull. U. S.' Nat. Mus., 47, pt. 1, 797, 

 1896. 

 Chirostoma BERYLLiNUM Copc, Traiis. Amcr. Phil. Soc, 403, 1866. 



This small Menidia of the east coast of the United States has been 

 regarded as representing Atherinichthys gracilis Giinther, but the 

 inadequate description of that species, based upon a young specimen 

 without data, does not conform with beryllina. Until further evidence 

 is forthcoming, therefore, we shall follow Kendall in not applying 

 Giinther's name to this species. 



Menidia beryllina, as we accept the species, is composed of two 

 subspecies, the extremes of which are of very dissimilar appearance, 

 though of similar technical characters. The one, peninsula, occurs in 

 salt water along the coast of Florida and the Gulf States. It has a 

 comparatively deep and strongly compressed body, with the ventral con- 

 tour more strongly arched than the dorsal and a large head with a rather 

 small eye and a sharp snout. The other form, beryllina, is abundant 

 along the coast and coastwise streams of the Atlantic seaboard of the 

 United States, and also in the fresh waters of Florida and the lower 

 Mississippi Valley. The two intergrade in Florida, according to Ken- 

 dall, but the inter-relationships of the two forms are yet to be accurately 

 determined. Perhaps they are specifically distinct. 



80a. Menidia beryllina peninsulae (Goode and Bean), 1879."^*- 

 (Plate III, Fig. 11) 

 Chirostoma peninsul.-ie Goode and Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 2, 148, 150, 1879 

 (exclusive of specimens from Lake Monroe). 

 Menidia peninsul.e Jordan and Gilbert, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 5, 266, 1882; 

 Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 16, 408, 1883 ; Jordan and Evermann, Bull. U. S. Nat. 

 Mus., 47, pt. 1, 797. 1896; 4, pi. 124. fig. 337, 1900 (figure poor); Kendall. 

 Kept. U. S. Fish Comm., 64, 1899; 257, 1901 (1902), text fig.; Cockerell, 

 Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 23, 48, 1910. 

 Type-locality. — Pensacola, Florida. 

 Range. — Coasts of Florida and the Gulf States, so far as known confined to salt 

 water. 



