1885.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 63 



-of the anal. Base of anal I5 in base of dorsal; base of dorsal nearly 

 equal to length of head. Lower lobe of caudal 3J in body. About 23 

 scales on lateral line before ventrals, and about 29 in front of dorsal 

 fin. Eight rows of scales between lateral line and dorsal fin. Color 

 brownish above ; silvery below. Pectoral fins black on lower posterior 

 half; a broad white band running from axil obliquely back to the pos- 

 terior of upper- rays ; some white on tips of pectoral rays. Anterior 

 upper portion of the fin somewhat marbled. Ventral fins black, except 

 on two onter rays, on inner ray, and a small spot on next two inner 

 rays about one-fourth distance from origin of fin. Axil of ventrals pale. 

 Dorsal fin, when depressed, showing three black spots ; caudal fin with 

 three dark transverse bands across fin ; a black spot on tips of third, 

 fourth, fifth, and sixth rays of anal fin. 



12. Exoccetus cyanopterus. 



Exoccetus cyanopterus, Cuv. & Val., xix, 1846, 98 (Bahia; Eio-de Janeiro),- 

 Giinther, vi, 1866, 294 (copied). 

 'i Exoccetus, albidactyhis, Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1863, 167 (Caribbean 

 Sea, north of Brazil ; enoneously ascribed to Panama). 



Habitat. — Coast of Brazil. 



We know nothing of this species except what is contained in the 

 meager description of Valenciennes. In its coloration it approaches 

 J5J. bahiensis, but the statement "D. 13, A. 12" would indicate that its 

 place is in the group with the anal fin long, in the neighborhood of E. 

 volitans and E. rujipinnis. From the latter it differs by the presence of 

 a large black blotch on the dorsal. 



We place here with doubt also the E. albidactyhis of Gill, which seems 

 to agree with E. cyanopterus except in the number of its fin rays (" D. 

 14, A. 10"). Possibly either Gill or Valenciennes has made an error in 

 counting. The description of E. albidactyhis indicates some resemblance 

 to E. bahiensis, but the insertion of the ventrals, according to Gill's de- 

 scription, would be farther forward, much as in E. furcatus. 



The type of E. albidactyhis seems to be lost. Captain Dow, who col- 

 lected it, has informed Professor Gilbert that it was taken in the Carib- 

 bean Sea, north of Brazil, and not at Panama. 



18. Exoccetus nigricans. 



Exocaitus 7i»".^rjcan8, Bennett, Whaling Voyage, ii, 1840,287; Giinther, 1866, 



vi, 290 (Java). 

 Exoccetus hicolor, Cuv. & Val., xix, 1846, iii (Atlantic); Bleeker, "Ned. 



Tydschr. Dierk., iii, 132." 

 Exoccetus spUopus, Cuv. &. Val., xix, 1846, 118. (La Rochelle, St. Helena, 



West Indies, India, Arabia, De Witt Land); Guichenot, Hist. Cuba. 



Ramon de la Sagra, Poiss., 1853, 152, pi. 4, f. 2 (CubaJ ; Liitken, Vid, 



Med. Nat. For., 1876, 107 (Indian Ocean). 



Habitat. — Tropical seas, north to France. 



Tliis species is one of the most easily recognized in the group. It 

 may be known at sight by the high dorsal fin, black on its posterior 

 half, the posterior half of the ventral being also black. 



