VIVIPAROUS FISHES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
403 
List of species of viviparous Scorpwnidce found on the West Coast of America — Continued. 
Name of species. 
Vertical distri- 
bution. 
isebastomus ruber (Ayres) 
Pteropodu,s sinensis (Gilbert) 
Pteropodus saxicola (Gilbert) 
Pteropodus atro virens (J. & G.) . 
Pteropodus elongatus (Ayres) 
Pteropodus proriger (J. & G.) . . . 
Pteropodus brevispina (Bean) . 
Pteropodus zacentrus (Gilbert) . . 
Pteropodus maliger (J. & G.) ... .. 
Pteropodus rosae B 
Pteropodus dallii (E. & B.) 
Pteropodus caurinus (J. & G.) 
Pteropodus vexillaris (J. & G.) .. 
Pteropodus rastrelliger (J. & G.) 
Pteropodus nebulosus (Ayres) ... 
Pteropodus carnatus (J. & G.) 
Pteropodus chrysomelas (J. <fcG.). 
Auctospina aurora (Gilbert) 
Auctospina auriculatus (Girard) . 
300 feet 
870 feet 
960 feet 
(?) 
300 feet 
300 to 600 feet. . . . 
(?) 
900 feet 
(?) 
30 feet above high 
water. 
(?) 
(?) 
60 to 600 feet 
(?) 
Deep water 
Shallow water . . . 
100 feet 
1,600 feet 
Surface 
Horizontal distribution. 
San Diego to Puget Sound. 
West coast Lower California. 
Southern California. 
San Diego to San Francisco. 
San Diego to San Francisco. 
San Diego to San Francisco. 
Alaska. 
Southern California. 
Monterey to Sitka. 
Port Harford. . Fossil. 
San Francisco. 
Puget Sound to Sitka. 
San Diego northward. 
San Diego to San Francisco. 
Port Harford to V ancouver Island. 
San Diego to San Francisco. 
San Diego to San Francisco. 
Southern California. 
Cerros Island to V ancouver Island. 
The depths are only approximate. I have given the shallowest and deepest 
waters recorded (mostly in my notes) for each species. I have found them very abun- 
dant, both in individuals and in species, to a depth of about 600 feet, the depth at which 
much of the winter fishing is done in the neighborhood of San Diego. Dr. Gilbert, 
when with the Albatross , found a number of species at a depth of 1,600 feet. 
A contemplation of these long lists of viviparous fishes naturally leads one to 
suppose that peculiar conditions must exist, or must have existed, to develop such an 
amazing number of viviparous forms. The action of environment, or the production 
of similar results by similar causes acting upon so widely separated families as the 
Embiotocidce and Scorpcenidce, seems evident. The conditions must here have been 
and probably are, more favorable to the survival of those species producing living 
young than elsewhere. That the conditions must have been favorable to viviparous 
species for a long period is evidenced by the large number of species now existing and 
by the advanced stage of viviparity of the Embiotocidce. Cymatogaster far surpasses 
all other known species of fishes in the degree of its viviparity. 
If the degree of viviparity is a criterion, the Embiotocidce have been much longer 
viviparous than the Scorpcenidce, and I have discovered a fossil Pteropodus * ( rosce ) in 
the cretaceous at Port Harford. The Embiotocidce would, therefore, date back still 
earlier. What these conditions are, or have been, is of course a difficult question to 
determine. 
*Tliere is a possibility that the deposit from which the fragments of this species were taken is in 
part a prehistoric refuse heap, in which case this observation loses much weight. At Port Harford 
a rather steep hill rises several hundred feet from the beach. At about 20 feet from high-water 
mark there is an old railroad cut. In the bank thus exposed, which was water- worn at the time I 
visited it, there were found many fragments of fish bones, chiefly vertebrae, and crustacean shells and 
mollusks. The mollusks, which were unquestionably fossil, were similar to those found all over the 
hill, even to its top; crustacean shells and fish bones I found only at this cut, about 2 feet from the 
surface. Among the fragments of fish bones I found a part of a preopercle of a Pteropodus allied to 
nebulosus. The most of the fragments have not been identified. 
