42 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Color. When alive, greenish-brown above the lateral line ; beneath this line, which 

 is very perceptible, the color is darker, and is broken irregularly by the extension of the 

 whiteness of the abdomen. In young specimens the color is distributed in four or five 

 transverse bands, which are indistinct in the mature fish. The membranous portion 

 attached to the posterior inferior part of the ventral spine is of a bright scarlet color, 

 which causes this part to appear as if covered with blood, when the fish is suddenly 

 darting through the water, with the spine projecting. 



Description. Body slightly convex in front of the first dorsal spine. Length of the 

 head equal to nearly one fifth the length of the body. Three or four movable spines 

 are situated in front of the dorsal fin, with a membrane at their base. Directly before 

 the dorsal fin, and connected with it by a membrane at its base, is a fifth spine, which 

 is equal to about two thirds the height of the rays of this fin. Commencing at the 

 base of the first spine, and terminating at the spine of the dorsal fin, is situated a 

 groove, into which the larger spines are received when recumbent. The first and 

 second spines are each equal in length to one third of the head ; when erect, one or 

 more of these spines frequently project outward from the straight line ; the others are 

 shorter ; the fourth, when there are five, is the shortest. 



The rays of the pectorals are very delicate. 



The ventral spine is serrated on its anterior edge. 



The os innominatum extends, on each side, almost to the anus. At the origin of 

 the anal fin is situated a recurved spine, rather larger than that at the origin of the 

 dorsal fin. 



The first rays of the anal fin are the highest. This fin terminates opposite the 

 dorsal fin. 



The caudal fin is slightly rounded, when expanded. 



The fin rays are as follows : — D. 3 or 4, 1-12. P. 11. V. 1. A. 10. C. 13. 

 Length one to two inches. 



Remarks. This species, which Mitchill concisely described and badly figured in his 

 paper on the Fishes of New York, is found in large numbers in creeks to which the 

 sea has access, from Boston to Provincetown, and also in the mouths of rivers. 



Massachusetts, Storer. New York, Mitchill, Cuvier, Dekay. 



In this species, as in others of the genus, the number of dorsal spines varies. Cuvier's 

 Noveboracensis is probably a variety with three spines, and my son has taken specimens 

 with five spines in salt marshes at Cambridge. 



