30 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 366. 



SHORTER ARTIGLSa. 

 THE SMALLEST KNOWN VEETE13RATE. 



The United States has borne tlie distinction 

 of liaving, in certain eyprinodont fishes of the 

 Southern States, the smallest known fishes and 

 at the sanae time the smallest known verte- 

 brates. Thus, Ileterandria formosa Agassiz, 

 found from Soiith Carolina to Florida, has an 

 average length of 25 mm. for females and 18 

 to 19 nrni. for males. Lucania ommata (Jor- 

 dan), recorded only from Florida, probably 

 never exceeds an inch in length; two males, 

 the only ones thus far found,* measured 19.5 

 and 20 mm., and two females from the same 

 locality were 20 and 22 mm. long, exclusive of 

 caudal fin. Of this species Dr. O. P. Hayf 

 remarked that 'it may contend with Heteran- 

 dria formosa for the honor of being the 

 smallest known vertebrate.' Another diminu- 

 tive member of the cyprinodontids is the well- 

 known viviparous Gamhusia affinis, the adult 

 males of which sometimes barely exceed 12.5 

 mm. in length, although the females reach a 

 length of 50 mm. In this family are several 

 other species that are scarcely larger than 

 those before mentioned. The pigmy per- 

 coidean, Elassoma evergladei Jordan, of the 

 swamps of Georgia and Florida, ranges from 

 less than 20 mm. to a maximum of about 33 

 mm. in standard length, and several of the 

 darters are no longer. Among the marine 

 fishes, there are a number of gobies whose 

 length is barely 25 mm. The smallest of the 

 known marine vertebrates, however, is prob- 

 ably the lancelet, Acymmetron lucayanum 

 Andrews, from the Bahamas; examples taken 

 by the Fish Hawlc in Porto Rico are about 19 

 mm. long, although Dr. Andrews' types in the 

 National Museum are nearly a third smaller. 



The United States Fish Commission has re- 

 cently received from the Philippine Islands 

 numerous specimens of a species of fish now 

 to be described which has a maximum size 

 less than the minimum adult size of most 

 of the foregoing species, while the minimum 

 and average sizes for mature individuals are 

 thought to be less than those of any other 



*Woolinan, Bulletin U. 8. Fish Comm., 1890, 

 tProc. V. S. Nat. Mus., 1885. 



known fish or other vertebrate. The specimens 

 were obtained, through the courtesy of the 

 Surgeon-General of the army, by medical offi- 

 cers connected with the military hospital at 

 Buhi, southern Luzon, in the department of 

 Camarines Sur; and were collected in Lake 

 Buhi, to which the species is said to be pecul- 

 iar. 



The fish is a member of the great cosmopoli- 

 tan goby family, of which upwards of 600 

 species are known; and exhibits peculiar char- 

 acters which necessitate the creation of a new 

 genus for its reception. The diagnostic fea- 

 tures of this genus, for which the name 

 Mistichihys ( fu-'mroc, the smallest) is proposed, 

 are coalescent ventral fins not adnate to the 

 abdomen, two well-separated dorsal fins of 

 which the anterior contains three weak spines, 

 a single series of conical teeth in each jaw, 

 body covered with large ctenoid scales, and an 

 elongated genital papilla by the shape of 

 which the sexes may readily be distinguished. 

 This species, to which the name Mistichihys 

 luzonensis is given, and which will be more 

 fully described in a forthcoming paper in the 

 Fish Commission Bulletin, is apparently 

 nearly transparent in life, with a black chin, a 

 black median line behind the anal fin, and a 

 few black spots on the back. It is probably 

 viviparous or ovo-viviparous ; but while many 

 of the specimens contain ripe ovarian egga 

 (some of which have been discharged in the 

 preserving medium), no eggs exhibiting evi- 

 dences of development have been found. The 

 females are slightly larger than the males and 

 average 13.5 mm. in length; the maximum for 

 egg-bearing fish is 15 mm. and the minimum 

 less than 12 mm. The average length of males 

 is about 12.5 mm., the maximum is 13.5 mm., 

 and the minimum is under 10 mm. The aver- 

 age length of 50 specimens taken at random, 

 both sexes about equally represented, was 

 12.9 mm. 



A fact of more than ordinary interest in 

 connection with this diminutive species is that 

 it is a food-fish of considerable importance. 

 Dr. George A. Zeller, acting assistant surgeon 

 U. S. A., writing from the military hospital at 

 Buhi, says : 



"I enclose herewith samples of a strange 



