EDWIN CHAPIN STARKS 67 



side of the body and head, on the latter taking the form of broken lines. 

 The top of the head is black, and two dark lines run downward and for- 

 ward from the eye. The dorsals and caudal are yellow, and dark spots on 

 the rays form cross lines. Excepting a spot on the upper part of the pectoral 

 base the other fins are colorless. 



208. Gobionellus stomatus Starks, new species. 



Plate 10. 



The head is blunt with a sharply curved snout overhanging the mouth. 

 The length is contained from 4>^ to 4^ times in the length to the base of 

 the caudal. The body tapers backward and ends in a long, pointed caudal 

 fin. The depth varies from 5>4 to 6j4 in the length. The eyes stand 

 slightly above the level of the head with a raised supraorbital rim, and they 

 are narrowly separated by a bony interorbital space equal in width to that of 

 the pupil. The diameter of the eye is contained 5 times in the head, and 

 iy2 times in the snout. The lower jaw is included, and the length of the 

 maxillary, as in other large-mouthed gobies, is variable. It reaches to the 

 posterior margin of the eye in the smallest specimens, and to one diameter 

 of the eye past in the largest ones. The teeth are in narrow bands of about 

 4 rows in each jaw. In the upper jaw those in the outer row are enlarged, 

 while in the lower jaw those of the inner row are enlarged. These tooth 

 characters can best be appreciated in a dried specimen. The blunt snout 

 forms a third, or sometimes a little less, of the length of the head. 



The spinous dorsal is composed of 6 spines, and the longest ones are 

 as long as the head. When the fin is depressed they reach slightly past the 

 front of the soft dorsal. There are 13 dorsal rays in the soft dorsal, which 

 is about three-fifths of the height of the spinous dorsal ; they scarcely de- 

 crease in length posteriorly. There are 14 anal rays which increase in 

 length posteriorly. The ventral reaches a trifle past the pectoral but not 

 nearly to the anal. The length of the broadly rounded pectoral is from one- 

 half to one diameter of the eye less than that of the head. The caudal is long 

 and pointed, and its length is twice that of the head. The head is naked, 

 and the scales on the body are fine and cycloid, and increase slightly in size 

 backward. There are 58 transverse series of scales and 16 longitudinal. 



The color in alcohol is light gray, with about 6 rather wide cross bars 

 of dark slate-color on the side. Their upper ends run obliquely down and 

 forward, but most of their length is vertical. They fade away a short dis- 

 tance below the middle of the side. Between the wider bars is usually a 

 narrow, less conspicuous one. Often on the back are several oblique dark 

 lines. The head is nearly always darker than the body, and is more or less 



