20 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
white; under side of throat brown, with tine light spots shading into white posteriorly, and shaded 
with green, which extends about the inside of the mouth, hack of pectorals, and down middle line of 
belly; sides of belly and ventral side of body on each side of anal yellow. 
The most brilliant and sluggish of the tide-pool cottoids, usually lying close to the rocks and 
rarely moving rapidly. Distinguished from A. asperulus by the shape and depth of head and length 
of the band of scales, and not by number of rows in the band. A number of my specimens have nine 
rows, and are identical in this respect with A. asperulus. A. lateralis occurs in all kinds of tide-pools, 
high or low, but is usually found singly, and never are there many in the same pool. These solitary 
habits differ very noticeably from those of the other tide-pool cottoids in their strikingly social 
manner of life. 
Caularchus maeandricus Girard. 
Lepidogaster reticulatus Girard, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1854, 155, San Luis Obispo, Cal.; name 
preoccupied. 
Lepidogaster nurandricus Girard, Pacific R. R. Surv., x, Fishes, 130, 1858, San Luis Obispo, Cal. : 
substitute for reticulatus, preoccupied in Ledadogaster ; Gunther, Cat., in, 505, 1861. 
Gobiesox reticulatus Jordan & Gilbert Synopsis, 749, 1883. 
Caularchus nurandricus Jordan & Evermann, Fishes of North and Middle America, in, 2328, 1898. 
Color yellowish green, with faint vermiculations of brown, and spots of clear yellow more 
apparent on top of head; a distinct interorbital line of same color; tip of snout tinged with black; 
dorsal, anal, and caudal light-brown, edged with bluish- white. 
The only fish of this family ( Gobiesocidce ) found in tide-pools of Monterey Bay and northward. 
Gibbonsia elegans (Cooper). 
Myxodes elegans Cooper, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci., in, 109, 1864, San Diego and Santa Barbara. 
Climes ocellifer Mocquard, Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, 1886, 44, California. 
Clinus evides Rosa Smith, Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum 1883, 235, specimens from Todos Santos ; not of 
Jordan & Gilbert. 
Gibbonsia elegans Jordan & Evermann, Fishes of North and Middle America, hi, 2353, 1898. 
Originally described from Point Loma and its geographical range given as from Point Concepcion 
south to Todos Santos. In 1883 Jordan & Gilbert described G. evides, ranging from Point Concepcion 
northward. The two nominal species were distinguished as follows by Jordan & Evermann: 
G. evides: Dorsal v-xxxi, 10; anal n, 26; soft dorsal low; coloration comparatively plain, the 
soft dorsal without pellucid area. 
G. elegans : Dorsal v-xxvm, 7 ; anal ii, 24 ; soft dorsal high ; coloration more or less variegated, 
soft dorsal with a high pellucid blotch posteriorly. 
My collection from Monterey Bay contains some specimens which are undoubtedly G. elegans, 
thus extending the range of that form to Monterey Bay. Others are exactly intermediate between 
the two species, with some of the characteristics of one and some of the other, thus indicating that 
these two species are not really distinct. The characters of these intermediate forms are: 
Dorsal v-xxx, 9; anal n, 26; a small pellucid spot on soft dorsal; coloration brilliant black 
with longitudinal yellow bands. 
Dorsal v-xxx, 8; anal ii, 27; a large pellucid spot on soft dorsal; color light reddish-brown, 
crossed by narrow bands of dark brown; fins yellowish, barred with brown. 
Dorsal v-xxix, 8 ; anal ii, 25 ; a large pellucid spot on soft dorsal ; coloration perfectly plain. 
Dorsal v-xxx, 9; anal n, 28; small pellucid spot on soft dorsal; coloration perfectly plain. 
I find similar intergradations in specimens from San Diego. It appears that the two forms can 
not be distinguished at any point throughout their range. The number of fin rays and the coloration 
will not serve to separate the species; therefore G. evides must be identical with G. elegans, which has 
the priority of description. 
