Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 3189 



Page 2358. After Malacoctenus bimaculattis (Steindachner), insert: 

 2697 (b). MALACOCTEMJS PUERTORICENSIS, Evermnnn & Marsh. 



Head 3.4; depth 3.4; eye 4; snout 3.5; maxillary 3.4 ; mandible 2.6; in- 

 terorbital 7; preorbital 8; scales 4-44-8. D. xx, 10; A. n, 19; P. 14; V. 

 2; C. 13. 



Body short, stout, compressed; head rather long, snout long and 

 pointed; mouth small, little oblique, the maxillary scarcely reaching 

 front of orbit; teeth in a single row in each jaw; gill-membranes broadly 

 united, free from the isthmus; eyes high up, iuterorbital narrow; caudal 

 peduncle short, compressed, its least depth about 3 in head. Fins rather 

 large; origin of dorsal over upper end of gill-opening, first spine slightly 

 shorter than second, which is somewhat longer than the third, whose 

 length is about 2.2 in head; no notch behind third and fourth spines, all 

 the spines from third to fifteenth being about equal in length, the sixteenth 

 and seventeenth being somewhat shorter, the remaining three progres- 

 sively longer; soft dorsal higher, its longest ray about 1.7 in head; long- 

 est anal ray 1.7; pectoral broad, 1.25 in head, reaching anal; ventral 

 barely reaching origin of anal ; a pair of slender ocular cirri, a small su- 

 praocular one, a short, slender, nasal cirrus and a few very slender ones 

 at the nape; scales large, not crowded anteriorly ; lateral line well arched 

 above the pectoral. 



Color in alcohol: Brown, much spotted and vermiculated with darker; 

 top of head brown, sides and under parts pale, crossed by about 5 broad, 

 irregular brown bars; side of body with about 5 or 6 broad, dark cross- 

 bars, broader than the paler interspaces, broadest and darkest above and 

 extending upon dorsal fin; under parts of body paler, more speckled; 

 spinons dorsal with numerous small brown specks, a large, black ocellus 

 on base of 3 anterior spines, and a larger one on base of last 4 dorsal 

 spines, being chiefly on body; soft dorsal, caudal, and anal each crossed 

 by several series of small brown spots; pectoral and veutrals pale, the 

 pectoral with a few brown spots at base. 



The above description from the type, a female, 2.5 inches long, obtained 

 at Hucares, February 14. Three female cotypes gotten at Fajardo, Feb- 

 ruary 17, and one at Culebra, February 9, agree closely with the type; 2 

 of these, however, show faint traces of narrow horizontal lines along 

 lower part of side. 



A male, 2.5 inches long, from Culebra, February 11, taken as one of the 

 cotypes, maybe described as follows: Head 3.5; depth 3. 7; eye3.8; snout 

 3.2; maxillary 3.1; mandible 2.4; iuterorbital 7; preorbital 6.2; scales 

 3-45-9; D. xx, 10; A. n, 19; P. 14; V. 2; C. 13; longest dorsal spine 2 in 

 head, longest ray 1.4 ; longest anal ray 1.5 ; pectoral 1 ; ventral 1.1 ; caudal 

 1.1. Color in alcohol, tolerably uniform brown; crossbars on side very 

 faint; longitudinal lines more evident than in the female; throat and 

 under parts of head mottled with white and light brown; fins loss 

 speckled than in female, the soft dorsal and aual pale, almost \vithout 

 spots. 

 Another male, 2.25 inches long, from Culebra, February 11, agrees with 



