Cyprinodon Californiens, Girard. J 



judge not under ioo°F. These springs are all below the present 

 sea level about ioo feet I should judge, from the fact that Salton, 

 lying in the depression between the two localities, is reported to 

 be 250 feet below sea level from actual measurements. 



And now the reader can imagine the editor fishing — first with a 

 tin drinking cup, and later with a dip net made from an old barley 

 sack. Bits ol cracker floating on the surface of the quiet pool, 

 enticed the brilliant little fish in great numbers to sport about the 

 mouth of the fatal net, and from thence into the jar of alcohol was 

 a brief journey. These fish were equally abundant in the little 

 stream running from the spring, that is perhaps six inches across, 

 scarcely an inch deep in places, and these fish (the largest 

 scarcely two inches long, resembling young carp) I found swim- 

 ming up and down this brooklet, one fin in the mud, another in 

 the air. 



I was informed that some years ago some Chinamen caught a 

 mess of quite large fish (a foot or more in length) from the Dos 

 Pal mas spring, but no satisfactory evidence could be obtained 

 and none certainly remain even if they ever existed. The In- 

 dians account for the presence of these little fish in the springs, 

 by saying that ' they fell in a shower of rain from the sky.' Their 

 survival is certainly most interesting when we consider that the 

 desert, now covered with sub fossil fresh water shells (with a few 

 marine forms intermixed), must once have been a great inland 

 lake or an estuary of the sea constantly fed by large volumes of 

 fresh water. 



Four specimens from the Dos Palmas spring were submitted to 

 Prof, and Mrs. Eigenmann, who kindly furnish the following de- 

 scription. The Editor. 



CYPRINODON CALIFORNIENSIS, GIRARD. 



These fishes are probably the Cyprinodon Californiensis, Girard, 

 as pecies hitherto known from the types only, which were im- 

 perfectly described, hence we add a description of our specimens: 



Head 3^—3^ (3 3 A~ 4 in - total; depth 2 2-9—2^ (2 3-5—3); 

 D. 11; A. 11; Lat. 1. 25 — 27; tr. 10 — ri. 



Form and color of C. gibbosus. Head flat above, the profile 

 steep, depressed over the eyes. Back greatly arched. Eye 31-5 

 — 3^4 in the head, 1 2-5 in the interorbital. Mouth small oblique; 

 intermaxillary spine prominent when the intermaxillaries are pro- 

 tracted. 



Exposed portion of the humeral scale not twice as large as the 

 exposed portion of any other scale. Intestinal canal twice the 

 entire length. Origin of dorsal equidistant from tip of snout and 

 base of caudal or slightly nearer base cf caudal. Highest dorsal 

 ray of male \ x /i in the head; of the female 1 3-5. Caudal slightly 

 emarginate. 



Highest anal ray little shorter than the highest dorsal ray; 

 ventrals in the female and in young inserted in front of the 



