2 COPFAA 



oblique, both gently arched. Dorsal soft rays 31, 

 anal 29. A line drawn from the origin of the soft 

 dorsal to the origin of the anal would cut the length- 

 wise axis of the body a distance before the base of 

 the caudal contained 2.4 times in the length to base 

 of caudal. The stripes on the head are like those of 

 the West Indian fish. 



Although somewhat intermediate, the Ascension 

 specimen is closer to West Indian examples than to 

 the one from Trinidad. From the former it is very 

 probably not taxonomically separable. This is in line 

 with our idea of the probabilities in spite of the great- 

 er distance of Ascension from the West Indies than 

 from Trinidad, based on the probable distribution of 

 a sluggish swimming fish of this nature. The North- 

 westerly trade wind currents would make it difficult 

 for a B. vetula to reach Trinidad from the West In- 

 dies, and as, on the other hand, Trinidad fish would 

 not drift north of Cape San Roque, B. vetula from 

 that island would be pretty effectually isolated from 

 the North Atlantic current circuit, Avhereas those 

 from Ascension would be on the outskirts of the same. 



The high fin-count of the Ascension fish places 

 it with descriptions of those from the Indian Ocean, 

 which may leave the West Indian form as Balistes 

 vetula bellus (Walbaum). We suspect that if the 

 West Indian fish is separable from the Ascension, the 

 Indian Ocean one will be found to be so also. As far 

 as is determinable from a single specimen, trinitatis 

 is a valid race. 



J. T. Nichols, 

 R. C. Murphy, 

 New York, N. Y. 



FISHES FROM PUNTARENAS, 

 COSTA RICA. 



A collection of fishes was obtained from the 

 Costa Rica government many years ago by the Com- 

 mercial Museums of Philadelphia. Recently, having 



