336 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 



[Vol. XLl 



Otohime, a new genus of gurnards (0. hemisticta) is described in 

 the same proceedings by Jordan and Starks, from Japan. 



In the same Proceedings, Professor John O. Snyder gives a review 

 of the Mullidse or Surmullets of Japan. 



In the Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries, vol. XXV, 1905 (issued 

 1906), are several important papers on the fish-fauna of our island 

 possessions. 



The "Fishes of Samoa" by Jordan and Scale contains a list of the 

 species collected on the American island of Tutuila and the German 

 island of Upolu by David Starr Jordan and Vernon Lyman Kellogg 

 in 1902. About 500 species were obtained, 92 of them new to science. 

 Most of the latter are small fishes taken through the use of poison 

 (chloride of lime) in the pools of the reefs. The reef fauna of the 

 islands of Samoa is remarkable for the number of brilliantly colored 

 species. In this paper are twenty-six colored plates of the most strik- 

 ingly colored of these small reef-fishes, noted since the days of Captain 

 Cook. These plates are from water color sketches by Kako Morita. 

 The origin and purpose of these brilliant hues of coral-reef fishes is 

 one of the most difficult problems in evolution. It is to be noted that 

 these colors are not confined to any one family, but that more than a 

 dozen families of fishes participate in them. 



With this paper is a check list of all the species, 1704 in number, 

 now known from the region called Oceania, which includes Hawaii, 

 Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. In all this region the fauna 

 is essentially continuous, except as regards Hawaii. In this separated 

 island group, the genera remain the same as in Polynesia, but the 

 species as a rule are difl'erent. This difference is clearly due to the 

 operation of isolation and segregation. 



In the same paper is a valuable discussion of the Samoan names of 

 fishes, and tlu> root-words ctmiposing them, by Mr. W. E. Safford. 



Aliii()>r siiiiiili.iiicniis with tills paper, but apparently with a few 

 weeks priority, is a iiieinoir "Zur Fischfauna der Samoa-Inseln" by 

 Dr. Franz Steindachiier, in the "Shzungsberichte der Kaiserliche 

 Akademie" (1906) in Vienna. Dr. Steindachner describes the spe- 

 cies of fishes collected at Apia in Upolu, by Dr. Rechinger. This 

 collection contains 120 species, of which 20 are new. Only one of 

 the new species is contained in the series described by Jordan and 

 Seaie. This is .SV//ar/V/.v rrrhlmjrri Steindachner. calle.l Snlarlas 

 garmani by Jordan and^S.v.lc.^ A ncvv /vm///r,-m, is added 



In the next volume of the Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries, 



