FISHES OF OKEFINOKEE SWAMP 
367 
In our material the dorsal is 7-9; anal 8-11 ; scales 29-34. The 
proportion of males to females in the whole 283 specimens was 
a little more than two females to one male, a high ratio of males 
as compared with most collections. In several separate collections 
when both sexes were taken they were about even, in others 
the ratios varied from one female to two males through two to 
one, three to one, to six and one-half to one. In some instances 
only females or males were collected. Very few of the females 
have the characteristic black spot above the vent. The presence 
or absence of the suborbital spot seems to be more or less inde- 
pendent of sex. We cannot agree with the statement that forms 
“from dark-colored water of swamps” are “with a distinct purple 
bar below eye.” Many of our specimens are without the 
suborbital spot. In Dr. Smith’s figure of the male the caudal 
is represented as plain but some of our males have the three or 
four dark bars similar to the caudal of the female. 
There was a group of ten mottled forms and we saw many of 
them in the swamp (“pieded minnow”, of the natives). The 
whole side of body and fins is heavily blotched with black, the 
blotching being most notable on the caudal half of the body and 
on the caudal fin. At first we thought it might be a sexual char- 
acter but six are males and four are females. Of this phase 
Ldennberg writes, “In some places certain varieties are 
predominant for instance Gambusia patruelis forma melanops 
in Lake Beauty not far from Orlando. This lake has rich vege- 
tation and rather dark water. In clay springs and the sulphur 
springs round Lake Jessup melanistic forms were not scarce. It 
seems to be many more males than females struck by this melan- 
ismus which probably at least partly is due to the chemical 
composition of the water.” The sexual suggestion does not ap- 
ply in our material. These ten come from open prairies (Honey 
Island and Floyd’s Island prairies), dense cypress ponds and 
other diverse places, also associated with normal forms. Peculiar 
localities or chemical composition of water cannot sufficiently 
explain it. These specimens certainly are of Gambusia aMnis and 
are much more melanistic than those upon which Cope based his 
description of Haplochilus melanops. 
In the middle of June we took several females with very ad- 
vanced embryos and each female had from sixteen to twenty- 
five embryos. Some of the largest females in total length reached 
five or six centimeters. 
