46 THE CYPRINODONTS. 
the body, without the caudal. Anal origin little farther forward than that of 
dorsal. Anal of male advanced, modified; anal process long, longer than 
the head, with hooks, or a clasper, at the end. Scales large. Intestine long. 
West Indies. 
Girardinus metallicus. 
Plate V. Fig. 6, teeth; Plate VIII. Fig. 13, male. 
Girardinus metallicus Poey, 1855, Mem., I, 387, 391, pl. 31, fig. 8-11, — 1861, Mem., IT, 383, — 1868, 
Repert., II, 411, —1876, An. Soc. Esp., V, 142; Blk., 1860, Cypr., 484, —1863, Atl., II, 189; Gthr., 
1866, Cat., VI, 351. 
Heterandria metallica Jor., 1887, P. U. S. Mus., IX, 568. 
B. 5; D. 9-10; A.11-12; V.6; P.12-13; Ll. 28-31; Ltr. 8-9; Vert. 
15+16. 
The shape of this fish does not differ very much from that of Gambusia 
Holbrookii. Body compressed, caudal pedicel deep. Head depressed, crown 
broad, very little convex, length about one fourth of the distance from snout 
to base of caudal. Snout short, not as long as eye, broad, blunt. Mouth 
rather wide ; mandibles short, weak, loosely joined; intermaxillaries shorter, 
protractile. Teeth in a single series, movable, slender, curved, spatulate, 
narrowed at the bases, broadened toward the summits, varying in shapes 
from the median to the lateral. In one case, shown in Fig. 6, Plate V., 
two smaller teeth were found behind the median pair. Eye large, longer 
than snout, two thirds of forehead, one third of head. Origin of dorsal 
midway from front of eye to end of caudal, farther back than that of anal. 
Anal of female with several rays farther forward than dorsal; anal of male 
farther forward, with third to fifth rays elongate and modified, one third of 
the total length of the fish. Caudal large, nearly as long as the head, sub- 
truncate or convex ; other fins small. 
Light yellowish to brownish olive, back and top of head darker, edges of 
scales little darker, or centres of scales lighter and one or two rows silvery 
along the middle of the flank. Uniform or with narrow vertical bars of sil- 
very on the sides. In cases the interspaces are brownish, in others there are 
scattered silvery scales. Belly yellowish to white, with a metallic lustre. 
Cheeks silvery. Dorsal with a large black spot on the hindmost rays, near 
the base. Some have a band from this spot across the fin. A few have indi- 
cations of a darker band across the bases of the caudal rays. Particular 
females have black spots on the abdomen, as in Gambusia. Occasionally 
males are found on which the lower border of the anal is black ; on certain 
