Mr. Peter B. Roberts, keeper of the fish market at Key West, Flor ida, has collected for me a considerable number of small specimens of Echeneis, ranging from about 4 to 7 or 8 inches long. I wrote him asking from what fish these were taken, and his answer was "that the sucker-fish are found on almost every fish in the waters around here, but the greater numbers are found on what are commonly called around here the amber-jack and the black grouper—that is, the smaller ones like you wanted collected." I then wrote him that a certain small sucker-fish was thought to be found only on the big barracuda and asked for information on this particular point. Now, Mr. Roberts, by virtue of his position at Key West and his long experience both as fisherman and distributor of fishes, has an exceedingly wide and accurate knowledge of the fishes of that region. He writes: "In answer to your questions I would like to state that the fishermen say that there is only one kind of [striped] sucker-fish, and that the small ones are not a distinct kind from the larger ones, but as they grow they naturally cling and stick to the larger fish. The ones found on the barracuda are the same as those found on other fish, the larger they grow the larger the fish they go after. . . . I would like to say . . . that I think that they are all the
same kind, both big and small, simply growing through the different stages of life." After the receipt of this letter the little suckers sent me by Mr. Roberts were carefully examined; 3 were found to have 19 lamellae, 9 to have 20, 8 had 21, 6 were supplied with 22, 5 with 23, 1 with 24, and 2 had 25. The smallest had pointed tails, i. e., had the central caudal rays longest and all had tails more or less plumose like that of the lost specimen above referred to. Presumably some of these were taken from barracudas. According to Jordan and Evermann they fall into the species E. naucrates (lom to xxvm lamellae), or to E. naueratoide,s (xx to xxi lamellae). At any rate, none of these can be identical with Poey's E. sphyrcenarum, which had only 10 lamellae. Gill (1862), in his criticism of Poey's identifications, calls this fish Phthierichthys lineatus, the striped louse-fish. Jordan and Evermann (1898) follow Gill, and note that this little sucker-fish is found attached to barra cudas. This, however, is probably an echo of Poey. At any rate, the point as to whether or not the big barracuda is the sole host of this particular sucker-fish is worthy of further investigation.