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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. LI V 



899. Die Anatomie und Phylogenie der Chitonen (Theil B). Zool. 



Jahrb., Suppl., Bd. 4 (Fauna Chilensis, 1. Bd.), pp. 15-216. 

 .901. Idem, (Theil C). Ibid., Bd. 5, pp. 508-600. 



The Musculature of Chiton. Jour. Morph., Vol. 11, pp. 595-628. 



THE BIONOMICS OF PORICHTHYS NOTATUS GIRARD 



Porichthys notatus is a batrachoidid fish, which is known to 

 range from southern Alaska to the Gulf of California, and from 

 depths of at least 62 fathoms to just above the lower low-water 

 level of the reefs. During the fall and winter months it inhabits 

 comparatively deep water, where nothing definite is known con- 

 cerning its life, beyond the fact, recorded by Dr. and Mrs. Eigen- 

 mann (1889, p. 132), that it is at least occasionally preyed upon 

 by rock-cods (Sebastodes) . In the late spring and early summer 

 a shoreward migration apparently takes place (Greene, 1899). 

 Along the coasts of Lower California and on the mainland shore 

 of southern California, it is usually found in shallow bays at this 

 season; at Santa Catalina Island Holder (Holder and Jordan, 

 1909) has mentioned hearing numbers just off rocky shores. 

 There is but one record of the occurrence of the species in the 

 reef-pools south of the vicinity of Pt. Conception in California, 

 Hilton (1914) having found a specimen in a pool on the reef at 

 Laguna Beach, California. 



From Pt. Conception northward, on the contrary, this species, 

 while never abundant is by no means rare along the reefs within 

 tidal limits, during the breeding season. Here it occupies very 

 shallow, often sandy pools, either those containing boulders or 

 those with horizontal crevices in the rocky sides. It is here a 

 fish of sluggish and retiring habits, swimming slowly with an 

 undulating motion; when disturbed it usually seeks shelter, but 

 sometimes swims off a short distance only, coming to rest and 



