THE CYPRINODONTS. 87 



A variety, piindulata, fi-om Remedies, usually has eleven rays in the 

 dorsal, instead of ten as in the Havana types, and the spots are more numer- 

 ous and lai'ger. 



Gambusia puncticulata. 



Plate VIII. Fig. T, male. 



Oambusia puncticulata Poey, 1855, Mem., I, 38G, 390, pi. 31, fig. 6-7,-1861, Mem., II, 383,-1868, 

 Repert., II, 410, — 1870, An. Soc. Esp., V, 140 ; Blk., 1860, Cypr., 485 ; Gth., 1866, Cat., VI, 334 ; Jor.,' 

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



Gambusia picturada Poey, 1868, Repert., II, 410. 



Gambusia picturata Poey, 1876, An. Soc. Esp., V, 141; Jor., 1887, P. U. S. Mus., IX, 564. 



B. 6 ; D. 9 (rarely 8 or 10) ; A. 11 ; V. 6 ; P. 15 ; LI. 29; Ltr. 9 ; Vert. 

 15+16. 



Shaped like G. punctata, but differing in the number of dorsal rays and in 

 coloration. The eye seems to be a little larger, the snout a trifle shorter, 

 the dorsal shorter and the caudal more regularly convex on the hind margin. 

 Instead of regular series of small spots, or vittfe, there are small spots of 

 black on single scales scattered irregularly about. In cases these spots 

 cover more than a single scale ; rarely they appear as blotches of black 

 large enough to cover the greater portion of the fish {picturata), as in 

 G. Holbrookii on Plate XL Pig. 4 and 5. Darker edges to the scales form 

 reticulations, not always very distinct. A somewhat indefinite silvery band 

 along the flank is present in many cases. The fins may be plain or may be 

 thickly sprinkled with small spots, or again, dorsal and caudal may have 

 several transverse series of black spots, sometimes fused into bands, varying 

 in number from one to five. Belly and lower half of head silvery. A black 

 spot, like that on G. Holhrookii, Plate XL Fig. 9, 12, and 13, is present on 

 many individuals, on the lower portion of the flank ; and on many if not 

 most an oblique spot is to be seen below the eye, a further evidence of close 

 relationship to that species. 



Inability to secure G. puncticulata in the fresh-water creeks where G. punc- 

 tata was so abundant, suggests that there may be some difiference in habits 

 not yet determined. The description is taken from Poey's types, which, he 

 says, were met with " en el foso de las murallas de la Habana." 



