2246 Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



2577. MICROGOBIUS SIGNATUS, Poey. 



Head 3 to 4 ; depth 4 (female) to 6* (male) ; eye 3 to 4. D. VII-17 to 20 ; 

 A. 18 to 21 ; scales 68 to 70 ; vertebrae 14 + 15. Body very much compressed, 

 more or less elongate ; head much compressed, deeper than wide ; snout 

 very short, acute, the anterior profile not decurved, not steep ; preorbital 

 not as wide as pupil ; mouth very large, almost vertical ; maxillary extend- 

 ing to below pupil, 2 in head in male, 2 in female; lower jaw projecting; 

 teeth of the outer series enlarged and recurved. Dorsals contiguous, 

 spines very fine, produced in filaments, the third longest, a little longer 

 than head; second dorsal and anal nigh. Scales as iu M. guJosus. Skull 

 rounded, very fragile; a median crest which is highest between eyes; 

 lateral crests developed, the inner ones meeting above posterior part of 

 eye; interorbital comparatively broad, the median crest ending above 

 anterior part of the orbit. Teeth in each jaw in 2 or 3 series ; outer series 

 of the upper jaw enlarged and recurved,, the inner ones minute; outer 

 series of lower jaw smaller than those of upper jaw, the one nearest angle 

 of mouth an enlarged canine. Dark gray; female with a short bright 

 blue bar, bordered by blackish above pectoral ; a blotch of sky blue and 

 orange below eye ; fins dusky, the ventrals pale in female ; males with the 

 body plain bluish gray. The sexual differences in this species are very 

 strongly marked. West Indies, in saltwater; common in Cuba; one of 

 the smallest gobies, barely 2 inches long. Here described from Havana 

 examples collected by Dr. Jordan, (signatus, marked.) 



MicrogoUus signatus, POEY, Enumeratio, 127, pi. 5, fig. 3, 1875, Cuba (Type in M. C. Z. 

 Coll. Poey) ; JORDAN, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mua. 1886, 49; JORDAN & EIGENMANN, I. c., 505. 



819. ZALYPNUS, Jordan & Evermann. 



Zalypnus, JORDAN & EVERMANN, Check-List Fishes, 459, 1896 (emblematicus) . 



This genus differs from Microgobius in having the anterior half of the 

 body naked. Soft dorsal and anal long, of 16 or 17 rays. Two species 

 known. (CdA?;, surf; vrtrog, slumber.) 



a. Scales 48; shoulder with a round black spot; none of the dorsal spines elongate. 



CYCLOLEPIS, 2578. 



aa. Scales 65; a silvery cross bar behind pectorals; some of the dorsal spines usually 

 elongate. EMBLEMATICUS, 2579. 



2578. ZALYPNUS CYCLOLEPIS (Gilbert). 



D-VII-16; A. 17; scales 48. Body somewhat elongate, compressed, the 

 mouth very large, narrow, and oblique ; maxillary produced beyond the 

 rictus for a distance equaling diameter of orbit, reaching vertical from 

 posterior margin of pupil, 1| in head; snout short, 5 in head; eye larger, 

 3 in head; interorbital width orbit; teeth in upper jaw in 2 series, the 

 outer enlarged and distant; in lower jaw apparently in a single series, 

 similar to outer series of upper jaw, with 2 stronger canines anteriorly. 

 Inner edge of shoulder girdle without fleshy prominences. Dorsal spines 



