FISHES FROM MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA. 
159 
55. Dormitator maeulatus (Bloch). Mapiro. 
Four small specimens, 1.7 to 2.3 inches long, collected December 25, 1898, by Mr. C. 0. Deam 
from a salt-water pool at Salina Cruz. 
56. Batrachoides goldmani, new species. 
Type, No. 50006, U. S. N. M., a specimen 10.5 inches long, collected May 7, 1900, by E. W. Nelson 
and E. A. Goldman, in the Rio Usumacinta, at Montecristo, Tabasco, Mexico. 
Head 2.75; depth 5; eye 9; snout 4.25; D. iii, 24; A. 18. Body fusiform ; head very broad, much 
depressed; caudal peduncle slender, much compressed; mouth large, lower jaw strongly projecting; 
maxillary reaching far beyond eye; teeth small, those on vomer in two irregular rows, about 26 in 
number, the inner the larger; palatine teeth about 15 on each side, irregular in size and position; teeth 
of lower jaw in 2 large patches in front, the outer somewhat enlarged; eye small; dermal fold on side of 
occiput obscure; dermal filaments on jaws and sides of head rather small; operclewith 2 rather strong 
divergent spines, but covered by skin; suboperele with 2 similar stronger spines; dorsal spines short 
and blunt; soft dorsal long, about half length of body; anal base 2.5 in length; caudal rounded; 
pectoral moderate, 1.67 in head; ventrals short, 2 in pectoral. 
Color, grayish, with 4 irregular dark cross-blotches, the first under base of pectoral and involving 
the 3 free spines; the second under first one- third of dorsal and extending upon it; the third under last 
(^ie-third of dorsal and likewise extending upon it; the fourth, a dark bar at base of caudal; top of head 
and back olivaceous or dusky, blotched irregularly with dark; under parts of head paler, with dusky 
and violet markings; spinous dorsal dark; soft dorsal violet or rusty with 2 large black blotches on base; 
a smaller one between them, the fin crossed by irregular short dark and pale lines; anal similar to soft 
dorsal; caudal dark, irregularly barred at the base; pectoral dark at base, the rest of fin with irregular 
bars of white an,d brownish; axil pale; ventrals somewhat dusky. 
This species differs from B. surinamensis in several important particulars, but chiefly in the smaller 
size of the anal and dorsal fins. In B. surinamensis the anal has 26 rays and its base is nearly half the 
length of the fish, and the dorsal has 29 rays, the base being more than half length of body. 
