PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 137 
2. Xiphister rupestris sp. nov. 
Besides the foregoing species, which is distinguishable at sight from 
Xiphister-mucosus, a second species occurs in great abundance among 
the rocks about Monterey. This species is more nearly allied to _X. mu- 
cosus, agreeing with it in form of body, mouth, teeth, and arrangement 
of the lateral lines; differing in the coloration of the head, in the num- 
ber of dorsal and anal rays, in the insertion of the dorsal and anal fins, 
and in the size of the pectoral fins. A description of these points will 
suffice, without the enumeration of features common to all the species 
of the genus. 
The life coloration of Xiphister mucosus is blackish green, becoming 
pale green on the belly and sides of the head; toward the tail the black- 
ish is commonly broken with much olive-green in various patterns; 
a transverse light-greenish bar at base of caudal, which extends to the 
dorsal and anal fins. Radiating backward from the eye are three olive- 
brown streaks, these much lighter in the center and edged above and 
below with blackish, outside of which is sometimes a streak of light 
green. These streaks all merge backward in the olive-green of the 
head. The upper streak from the eye toward the occiput is generally 
obsolete or small and indistinct; the middle streak is wedge-shaped, 
with the edges straight or nearly so; it is but slightly more than one- 
third the length of the head; the third streak terminates before reach- 
ing the margin of the preopercle. A very old example, over a foot long, 
has a diffuse yellow blotch on the back anteriorly. 
In Xiphister rupestris the life coloration is olive-brown or reddish 
brown, uniform or variously marked and shaded with lighter; a light 
olivaceous bar at base of caudal, extending on dorsal and anal; behind 
this a blackish area; the tip of the caudal usually pale. Three long, 
well-defined streaks radiating backward from the eye, these streaks 
uniform black, overlaying the olive cheeks, and abruptly margined with 
very light olive; the upper streak is more distinct than in XY. mucosus ; 
the central streak proceeds straight backward from the eye, half the 
breadth of the cheeks, at which point it is broadest; it is then narrowed 
and bent abruptly downward; both the middle and lower streak reach 
the margin of the preopercle, the length of the middle streak being 
three-sevenths that of the head. 
In Xiphister mucosus the dorsal fin begins anteriorly, nearly as in 
Xiphister chirus, the distance from its origin to the occiput being less 
than that from the occiput to the tip of the snout. The origin of the anal 
fin is nearly midway from the snout to the tip of the caudal, it being 
nearer the snout than the tip of the caudal fin by from one-third to two- 
thirds the length of the head. The fin rays are pretty constantly 
D. LXXIII, A. 48. The pectoral fin is as long as the eye. 
In Xiphister rupestris the dorsal fin begins farther back, the distance 
from its origin to the occiput being one-third greater than the distance from 
the occiput to the snout. The anal fin begins much in advance of the 
