EDWIN CHAPIN STARKS 65 



205. Eleotris carvalhonis Starks, new species. 

 Plate 9. 



The top of the head between the eyes is but little compressed. A rather 

 thick layer of muscle lies between the skin and the bone in this region, while 

 in Eleotris perniger, its nearest relative, the interorbital area is much de- 

 pressed and flattened, leaving the maxillary process protruding, and the skin 

 lies directly upon the bone. The head is contained from 3 to 3^ times in 

 the body length. The eye is contained 2^/2 times in the interorbital space 

 and 2 times in the snout. The mouth is very oblique, and the maxillary 

 scarcely reaches to below the middle of the eye. The teeth are in slightly 

 narrower bands than in E. perniger, and scarcely so much enlarged at the 

 side of the mandible. The gill-rakers, though only one or two more in num- 

 ber, are much more widely spaced. 



The fins are very similar to those of E. perniger, except that all of them 

 are more posteriorly placed in relation to the tip of the snout. The dorsal 

 numbers VI-10, and the anal 9 or occasionally 10. The spinous dorsal is 

 nowhere angulated in outline, and when the fin is reclined the tips of the 

 longest spines barely touch the base of the first ray of the soft dorsal. The 

 dorsal rays increase in length backward, and the last one is half as long as 

 the head. The anal is more rounded posteriorly than the dorsal, the last ray 

 not being so long as the next to the last. The ventrals reach half way or 

 more between their base and the anal. 



The scales are ctenoid on the body and cycloid on the head. There are 

 from 60 to 63 in a longitudinal series as in is. perniger, but the number from 

 the front of the anal in a series running up and back to the dorsal is 14 or 

 15, while in the other species they number 17 or 18. 



The color in life is dark brown, with darker longitudinal lines following 

 the rows of scales. Sometimes the body is so dark (almost black) that the 

 lines do not show. The belly is lighter than the side, and lighter than the 

 under parts of the head, which may sometimes be very dark. There are fine 

 yellow and black lines across the dorsal and caudal rays, but the other fins 

 are uniformly dusky or sometimes nearly black. 



This species differs from E. perniger particularly in the fewer cross 

 series of scales, the larger head, and the greater distance of the fins from the 

 tip of the snout. « 



The specimens of E. perniger with which these were compared came 

 from Jamaica. 



Seven specimens, from 4^ to 6 inches in entire length, were collected in 

 Lake Papary. 



