Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 679 



the anal more or less in advance of the dorsal ; anal fin of the male much 

 advanced and modified into a long intromittent organ, which is about as 

 long as head. Intestinal canal short. Branchiostegals 6. Vertebrae 

 about 32. Small viviparous fishes inhabiting the swamps, springs, and 

 ponds of Mexico, Cuba, and the Southern States, swimming near the sur- 

 face and feeding chiefly on insects or small Crustacea. The males are 

 slenderer than the females and very much smaller; compared with the 

 females, the males are very rare, and not often collected. ("The name 

 owes its etymology to the provincial Cuban word Ganibusino, which sig- 

 nifies ' nothing/ with the idea of a joke or farce. Thus one says Ho fish 

 for Ganibuainoa' when one catches nothing." Poey.) 



a. Scales rather small, about 35 in a lengthwise series; dorsal rays 10; anal 11; head 4% in 

 length; depth 3%; back and dorsal fin with a series of black dots. PUNCTATA, 997. 



. Scales large, 26 to 32 in a lengthwise series. 



b. Anal rays 11; dorsal rays 9; scales 30; head 4 in length; depth 3%; body and fins with 

 black dots; a black band below eye. PUNCTICULATA, 998. 



bb. Anal rays 7 to 10, usually 9. 



c. Body without dark cross bands. 



d. Body without dark lateral band or with merely a faint, narrow, dark lateral 



> streak; general color olivaceous, dotted. 



e. Origin of dorsal fin over origin of anal (in male); scales large, 26. D. 8; 

 A. 8; color nearly plain. INFANS, 999. 



ee. Origin of dorsal fin in the female about over middle of anal; body usually 

 dotted above, and with a faint dark line along sides, sometimes plain 

 olivaceous; usually a jet-black blotch below eye, this sometimes obso- 

 lete; dorsal and caudal usually with cross series of dots; gravid female 

 with a black blotch on side, the black interstructures showing through 

 the silvery peritoneum. 



/. Body moderately stout, the depth 3% to 4 in length; deepest in adult 

 females; back not much elevated; head moderate, 3% to 4 in 

 length; dorsal rays 8 or 9, (rarely 6 or 7); anal rays 8 to 10; scales 

 30 to 32. AFFINJS, 1000, 



/. Body very robust, the depth 3 to 3% in length; back much elevated; 

 head large, 3 to 3^ in length; dorsal rays 8; anal 9; scales about 

 30; sides'of belly anteriorly with many dark points, these some- 

 times forming an indistinct band from gill opening to ventrals. 



NOBILIS, 1001. 



ee. Origin of dorsal fin in the female over last ray of anal; olivaceous, with 

 brown dots along series of scales; dorsal and caudal with series of 

 dark dots; middle of anal blackish. D. 8; A. 10; scales 29-8; head 

 3% in length; depth 3%. NICARAGUENSIS, 1002. 



dd. Body with a dark band from upper edge of gill opening to caudal; anal pro- 

 cess bent in male. 



g. Insertion of dorsal not far behind that of anal. D. 8; A. 8 or 9; scales 29-7 



head 4 in length; depth about 3%. GRACILIS, 1003. 



cc. Body with more or less distinct dark cross oands, sometimes replaced by a series 



of dots; a black spot in both sexes on middle of base of anal; fins dotted. 



D. 8 or 9; A. 10; scales 28-7; head 3% to 3%; depth 3% to 4. EPISCOPI, 1004. 



ccc. Body black, marbled" with yellow; depth equal to length of head, 5 in total 



length with caudal; insertion of dorsal behind middle of total length. 



PICTURATA, 1005. 



997. GAMBUSIA PUNCTATA, Poey. 



(GUAJACON.) 



Head 4^; depth 3f ; eye 3. B. 6; D. 10; A. 11; V. 6; scales 35; vertebrse 

 13 -{-20. Lower jaw projecting beyond upper. Eye half width of 



