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BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
part of October were not entirely spent. Kuntz (1916, pp. 423-426), who took the eggs and de- 
scribed their development, found that at Beaufort, N. C., ripe fish were comparatively scarce during 
August, and he states that the height of the spawning season evidently was past. This author 
states that the mature, unfertilized eggs are approximately spherical in form and about 0.5 milli- 
meter in diameter, yellow in color, and opaque. They are heavier than sea water, and when 
stripped from the female they aggregate in a compact clump. As soon as fertilized, the egg begins to 
expand and becomes elliptical. The incubation period at ordinary summer temperature in the 
laboratory was approximately five days. The newly hatched larvae are approximately 2 milli- 
meters in length and almost transparent. Young fish 10 millimeters in length show many of the 
diagonostic characters of the adult. The head already has the characteristic shape of the species, 
the fins are well differentiated, and the sucking disk formed by the ventral fins is well developed. 
This goby is an abundant species in Chesapeake Bay, inhabiting shallow grassy flats off the 
immediate shores. During April and May it was found in comparatively small numbers along the 
shores, but from June to October it was present in abundance. The largest catch made during 
our collecting consisted of 511 fish taken in 8 hauls of a 30-foot seine in the lower York River on 
October 11. In November it was found to be comparatively scarce in localities where it had been 
Fig. 194 . — Gobiosoma bosci. Adult 50 millimeters long 
abundant the previous month. This goby was found chiefly from the York River to Annapolis 
and Love Point. Only a few specimens were taken in the Patapsco River below Baltimore and 
in the vicinity of Havre de Grace. From the capes to Buckroe Beach it was not as common as from 
the York River northward. It was not infrequently taken in water only slightly brackish, and 
several specimens seined at Havre de Grace were from fresh water. The maximum size is about 
2}^ inches. 
Habitat . — Massachusetts to Florida. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: Gunston Wharf, Cape Charles city, Gloucester 
Point, and Hampton, Va. (6) Specimens in collection: From numerous localities, taken in fresh, 
brackish, and salt water from Havre de Grace, Md., to the mouth of the bay. 
179. Gobiosoma ginsburgi sp. nov. 
Type No. 87655, U. S. National Museum; length 45 millimeters; Cape Charles, Va. 
Head 3.45 to 3.8; depth 6 to 7.15; D. VII-12 (infrequently VII-11 or 13); A. 11. Body 
rather slender; head somewhat depressed, broader than deep; snout short, tapering, 3.8 to 4.2 in 
head; eye 3.8 to 4.6; interorbital bone about the width of pupil; mouth terminal, slightly oblique; 
maxillary reaching somewhat beyond middle of eye, 2.05 to 2.35 in head; teeth in the jaws pointed, 
in bands, some of the outer teeth enlarged; gill openings mostly lateral, the membranes joined to 
the isthmus; pores evident and in series on cheeks; dorsal fins separate, the first with rather short, 
very slender spines and convex margin; second dorsal and anal similar and opposite each other, 
the rays of the dorsal scarcely reaching the base of upper rays of caudal; caudal fin moderate, 
round, about as long as head; ventral disk long, reaching about two-thirds the distance from its 
base to the vent, its length 1.25 to 1.45 in head; pectoral fins moderately broad, equal to or very 
slightly shorter than head, 3.65 to 4.2 in length of body. 
