THE CYPRINODONTS. 65 



the length to the base of the caudal or one fifth of the total. Snout short, 

 two thirds of eye ; chin steep. Mouth narrow, hardly as wide as eye, 

 directed upward ; lower jaws longer, weak, loosely joined ; upper short, 

 protractile. Teeth broadened toward the apex ; sharper in young ; inner 

 series in a band, one cusped, short, slightly hooked, not numerous. Eye 

 large, longer than snout, one third of head, two thirds of forehead. Fins 

 small, excepting caudal. Dorsal origin about midway from snout to end of 

 caudal, little in advance of that of anal. On the male the entire base of the 

 anal is forward of that of the dorsal ; the anal process is comparatively short, 

 as long as the head ; and the second ray of the ventral is so much elongated 

 as to reach behind the middle of the length of the anal. Pectorals pointed, 

 reaching behind bases of ventrals. Caudal large, median rays longest. Scales 

 large. Intestine long. 



Light olivaceous, edges of scales darker, cheeks and belly silvery. Top 

 of head dark, usually with a small spot of light color in the middle. A verti- 

 cally oblong spot of dark color edged with light appears on the sixth and 

 seventh scales behind the gill opening, and as many scales forward from the 

 dorsal. On P. vivipara this spot is within three scales of the dorsal, and is 

 retained on old specimens. Frequently there is a band of silvery from the 

 eye backward. A dark blotch on the hind part of the belly above the ven- 

 trals, as in Gambusia, is of frequent occurrence on females ; some of the 

 males also have a large spot of dark in the same position but differing in 

 character. Many have a large rounded black spot on the middle of the cau- 

 dal pedicel at the base of the fin. Vertical streaks of darker and lighter ou 

 the flanks are common. Dorsal and caudal are sometimes mottled or trans- 

 versely banded with puncticulations of black. A few of the males have a 

 large spot of yellowish behind the black blotch on the caudal pedicel. 

 Where this species is in contact with P. vivipara specimens are found with 

 the lateral spots of both, one in each of the two positions. 



Santa Cruz ; Para. 



Pcecilia poeciloides. 



Lebisles pcecilioides De Filippi, 1S61, Arch, per la Zool. 1' Auat. e la Fisiol., I, 69, pi. IV, fig. G; Jor., 

 1887, Pr. U. S. Mus., IX, 564 



Lebistes pceciloides Gtlir., 1866, <^i. ., VI, 356. 



" Habitus PoeciUce. Denies supra et suUus in serie externa majnsciilis, com- 

 pressi, ineurvi : in serie interna rari didantes, minimi, conici. Pinna; ventrales 



