54 THE CYPRINODONTS. 
joined, lower longer, upper short, protractile. Teeth in the outer series slen- 
der, narrowed at the base, broadened or spatuliform toward the apex, hooked, 
movable ; in the inner series very small, one cusped, subtricuspid or slightly 
broadened toward the apex; in the pharyngeal groups, slender, pointed, 
arranged in short rows. Eye medium, little longer than snout, little more 
than a fourth of the head or half of the forehead. Fins small, excepting 
caudal. Dorsal origin about midway from snout to end of caudal, slightly in 
front of that of anal, thirteen scales behind the occiput. Pectorals reaching 
a vertical from behind the bases of the ventrals. On males the anal is farther 
forward, a vertical from the first ray being reached by the pectorals. The 
anal process in this sex is comparatively short, about three fourths as long as 
the head; it has an elongate fleshy lobe beneath its apex, and extends but 
little farther back than the long slender second rays of the ventrals. Caudal 
deep as long, hardly as long as the head, median rays little longer. Scales 
large. Intestine more than twice as long as the fish. 
Brownish to olivaceous or yellowish, darker on the vertebral line and 
top of the head, the latter with a central streak or spot of light color. 
Darker on the posterior half of each of the majority of the scales, or with 
darker edges to the scales, or nearly uniform yellowish. In most cases, with 
three to seven vertical bands of brownish, as wide as the interspaces, on the 
flank, behind the middle of the abdominal cavity, and with a blackish spot 
on the eighth and ninth scales behind the angle of the operculum, on 
the second series below the origin of the dorsal and but two to three 
scales distant from it. This spot on many is edged with white. Some are 
freckled with silvery scales, or have the spaces on the flank of that color. A 
black spot on the middle of the posterior rays of the dorsal, in cases with a 
band to the front edge. Dorsal frequently, and sometimes anal and pec- 
torals, tipped with black. Caudal with three or more vertical bands of 
puncticulations or small spots, or simply clouded, or uniform. Rarely dor- 
sal and caudal are irregularly sprinkled with black spots. A dash of black 
on each edge of the base of the caudal is common. 
Reaches a length of three and a half inches. 
Rio Janeiro to Martinique. 
Fewer of the adults from Martinique and Crab Island bear the spot on 
the eighth and ninth scales of the lateral line, in comparison with southern 
specimens, and on the young it is rather less distinct ; but on the other hand 
the black spots at each edge of the caudal base are larger, and the several 
