422 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



This wiry little blenny covers the lava rocks on the "iron-bound coast" of the Samoan Islands; 

 leaping on the bare rocks in the sun. like a lizard and leaping into the sea with the greatest velocity 

 when disturbed. It is not found in the coral. At Apia it swarms in the wreck of the German warship 

 Adler, but it could not be taken there by any means at our disposal. 



"We have 7 specimens from Pago Pago. Life colors of one of these, violet-black, with a few pale 

 bluish spots along middle of side; dorsal pale-edged; body with about 9 pale, poorly defined, trans- 

 verse double bars, which form a series of pale spots along middle of side; throat and belly pale, 

 becoming yellowish posteriorly; anal pale in some specimens, the rays faintly spotted with black 

 specks; in others this fin is colored like the dorsal, and nearly or quite as dark; caudal and pectoral 

 black. 



1587. Alticus periophthalmus (Cuvier& Valenciennes). Ticopia; Samoa; Santa Cruz; Rarotonga; 



Futuna; Tahiti; Mangareva; Nukahiva and Makatea (Seale); India. 



Salarias periophthalmus Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., XI, 311, pi. 328, 1836, Ticopia. Giinther, Fische 

 der Siidsee, 207, taf. 114, figs. D, E, Santa Cruz, Samoa, Rarotonga, Futuna, Society Is., Savaii. Day, Fishes 

 of India, 333, pi. 69, fig. 5, Andamans Is. 



Salarias andamanensis Day, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1869, 611, Andamans Is. 



Life colors of a specimen from Apia, body mottled gray-olive and purplish, the latter in paired 

 bars, or inverted Y-shaped, about 8 in number; side with a few oblong spots of bright violet, arranged 

 in 2 rows, about 5 in each row; an orange blotch behind eye, with a greenish violet bar behind it; a 

 greenish violet dash below eye; cirri orange; dorsal much mottled brown, grayish and orange, the 

 edge pale, with orange spots; caudal pale above, purplish black below, ending in blackish orange, the 

 lower lobe darkest; anal mainly black, orange at base; pectoral pale, never sprinkled with black dots 

 as in Alticus evermanni. 



Another specimen was light olive; 9 quadrate spots or bars of dark brown along side, these alter- 

 nating above with another series of irregular blotches; crest high, edged with dull red; second dorsal 

 and upper part of caudal edged with creamy red, rather bright; cirri pink. 



Other specimens have the margin of the spinous dorsal with dark spots; still others have the 

 spinous dorsal plain and in some both dorsals are crossed by the dark bars on the body. In some 

 specimens the characteristic blue spots on the sides are obsolete. 



This species is abundant in the coral reefs at Samoa; we have 50 specimens from Apia and 4 from 

 Pago Pago. 



1588. Alticus evermanni Jordan & Seale, new species. Samoa. 



Sararias nttidus Giinther, Fische der Siidsee, 200, taf. 113, fig. G, Samoa; not Salarias nitidus Giinther, Cat., in, 243, 

 from China. Seale, Bishop Museum 1901, 127, Guam. 



Head 4.75 in length; depth 6; eye 4 in head; dorsal xn, 21; anal 25; lateral line short, ending 

 under tenth dorsal spine; interorbital equal to one-half of eye; angle of mouth under posterior margin 

 of eye, slightly posterior. 



Body elongate, compressed, anterior profile slightly subvertical, the forehead projected beyond 

 the jaws; a divided orbital tentacle whose length equals two-thirds diameter of eye; a short four- 

 fringed tentacle at nostril; a row of small movable teeth in jaws, with the posterior canines present; 

 dorsal fin notched to one-half its depth, the origin of the fin slightly in advance of posterior margin 

 of opercle, and its posterior membrane not extending on the anal, its longest spine 1.75 in head, its 

 longest ray 1.5 in head; origin of anal nearer head than base of caudal, the base of fin 2 in length 

 of fish without caudal; pectoral 1.18 in head; ventral 2 in head; caudal square, its length equal to 

 head; a slight ridge on top of head. 



Color in life, ground-color a pale olive-brown, with 9 broad transverse bars of darker brown, fading 

 out below, but above extending well up on the dorsal fin; a round black spot in the fourth transverse 

 bar, a little above middle of body; body thickly sprinkled with small oblong or linear pearly or bluish- 

 white spots, most conspicuous posteriorly, where they form irregular longitudinal rows on the lower 

 part of the body; upper part of head with round white spots, which extend backward above lateral 

 line to posterior end of spinous dorsal; in some specimens numerous small black dots below this on 

 anterior part of body; underside of head pale, with irregular violet streaks; dorsal spines tipped with 

 black; spinous dorsal with irregular horizontal streaks of violet, in some specimens fading to yellowish 

 white; 3 narrow dark longitudinal streaks near the broad pale margin of soft dorsal; caudal and anal 

 plain dusky; pectoral yellowish, with 5 transverse rows of conspicuous dark dots. 



