Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology 5 



III 



Leptocottus armatus australis, new subspecies 



Leptocottus armatus Girard, Proc. Acad. Xat. Sci. Phila., VII (1854), 145 

 (in part; not type); U.S. Pac. R.R. Surv., X, part 4 (1858), 60, PL 15, Fig. 2 

 (in part); Jordan and Gilbert, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., Ill (1880), 25, 455 (in 

 part); ibid., IV (1881), 60; Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., XVI (1883), 713 (in part); 

 Rosa Smith, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., VI (1883), 235; West Am. Sci., I (1885), 

 46; Eigenmann, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., XV (1892), 131, 168; Eigenmann and 

 Eigenmann, Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., VI (1892), 356 (in part); Jordan and 

 Evermann, Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., XL VII, part 2 (1898), 2012; Part 4 (1900), 

 PI. 302, Fig. 733 (in part); Starks and Morris, Publ. Zool. Univ. Cal., Ill (1907), 

 220 (in part); Nichols, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XXI (1908), 172 (in part). 



Holotype: A specimen 87 mm. long to caudal base, seined by 

 the writer in the brackish water lagoon at the mouth of Ventura 

 River, at Ventura, California, on June 27, 1916; Cat. No. 55055, 

 Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan. 



Diagnosis: Like typical armatus, but with fewer rays in the 

 vertical fins; dorsal spines 6 or 7 instead of 7 or 8 (usually 7 in 

 each subspecies); dorsal soft rays 14 to 17 (usually 16), instead of 

 16 to 19 (usually 17 or 18); anal rays 14 to 16 (usually 15) rather 

 than 15 to 19 (usually 16 or 17), the last soft ray in all cases counted 

 as double. The variation in the number of rays in the second 

 dorsal and anal fins in the various parts of the range of the species 

 is indicated in the preceding tables. 



Record-stations: Leptocottus armatus australis has been recorded 

 or taken by the writer at the following localities, all in California: 



San Luis Obispo County: fresh tidewater of Morro Creek 

 (Hubbs); sand bar in Morro Bay, at mouth of Morro Creek 

 (Hubbs); fresh tidewater of Chorro Creek (Hubbs); A\ila, in 

 brackish lagoon at mouth of San Luis Creek (Hubbs); ''San Luis 

 Obispo" (Jordan and Gilbert). 



Santa Barbara County: slightly brackish lagoon at mouth of 

 Santa Inez River, at Surf (Hubbs) ; near mouth of estero at Goleta 



