The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-02

ing to ten teleostean families; most of these are so interesting that they will be separately referred to- five being new to United States waters.
 The mackerel family (Scombridae), which was already very generously rep resented at Woods Hole by ten species, added another member of in 1895, when specimen of long-finned albacore tGermo alalunga). three feet In length, was taken in the harbor. This pelagic fish is known from the Pacific, the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterrane- an,but has apparently not been met with elsewhere in the western Atlantic.
 Three species of "butterfy-flshes" (Chaetodontidae) a brilliantly colored family of the tropical seas, have been taken at Woods Hole. One of these, the "parche" (Chaetodon ocellatus), is not rare, being observed here nearly every year and also occurring In New Jersey and Rhode Island waters. The "Portuguese butterfly co. striatus) Is straggler met with in 1894, one spec imen being taken in October; it is not known elsewhere outside the West Indies. In 1897, in August and October, six examples of a strikingly beautiful new chaetodont co. briceD were ob- tained
 Five species of the typical sub tropi- cal family of snappers dutianidae) are now known from Woods Hole as strag- glers, two being noticed for the first time in 1897 Besides the red snapper (Neomaenis aya), the schoolmaster (N. apodus) and the muttonfish (N. analis), there were taken last year in Septem- Der young specimens of the gray or mangrove snapper (N. griseus) and the dog snapper (N. jocu). The first of these has been recorded from New Jer- sey, but is not found in any abundance north of Florida; the second has not been previously reported north of the Florida Reyes
 One of the most noteworthy captures was a small trigger-fish of the genus Canthidermis, taken in 1897; this is re- ferable to Cope's Balistes asperrimus from the Isthmus of Panama, the type of which in the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences has been compared with the Woods Hole specimen. No other examples are known, unless these prove to be the young of Balistes soba- co of Poey, from the West Indies
 In 1895 porcupine fish (Diodon hys- trix) was taken in Buzzards Bay, near the station. The only other specimens known to have been found north of Florida were taken on the shores of Maryland many years ago.
 The family of marine gars (Esocidae) has three members on the New England coast, one of which (Athennes hians) is represented by large specimen taken at Woods Hole in 1895 This species normally ranges from the West Indies to Brazil and is not elsewhere recorded north of Florida.
 The permit" or black-finned pompa- no (Trachinottus goodeD, described in 1896 from the West Indies and southern Florida, was first taken at Woods Hole in 1894, and has since been found on several occasions. The species attain a weight of over twenty-five pounds, but only small specimens (three inches or less) have up to this time been ob- tained here
 One species of half-beak (Hyporham- phus robertD is common at Wood s i Hole, and in the current year another specias (Hemirhamphus brasiliensis) was found for the first time. The lat ter is reported from Chesapeake Bay but from no other localities north of Florida.
 In August, 1898, there was taken small tile-fish of the genus Alutera, which resembles fish known from Asi- attic waters since -Linnaean times, and described by Osbeck in 1757 as Bal 1 istes monoceros. It also has some points of similarity to the Cuban fish described and figured by Para in 17S7
 under the vulgar name of "lija barbu- 1 da' which was subsequently identi- | fled by Poey and called by him Alutera | guntheriana the latter is regarded by some recent authorities as identical by with A. monoceros, but the lack of specimens has prevented a settlement ] of the question. The Woods Hole fish | differs in number of important fea- l lures from the foregoing, and apparent | ly represents an undescribed species.--- l Hugh M. Smith, of the United States
 Fish Commission, in Science.