4G2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



maxillary scarcely reaching pupil. Teeth in jaws stout, conical, slightly 

 carved, in two or three rows. Ilead 3; depth 3i. D. IV, 10: A. Ill, 

 .->: ]j. :; scales -12 + 19. L. H inches. Smallest of our spinous-rayed 



fishes, inhabiting slavish streams and bayous, from South Illinois to 



Texas and Alabama. 



(Jordan, Bull, x, U. S. Nat. Mus. 50. 1877; Jordan, Man. Vrri. !. \>, -JJ8; Jordan, 

 Bull. Ills. Lab. Nat. Hist, ii, 47; Hay. Proc-. U. S. Nat. Mus. iii, ISflO.IiOO.) 



Family LXXXIV. CENTRARCHID/E.* 



(The Sun-Jishes.) 



Percoid fishes with the body more or less shortened and compressed ; 

 the regions above and below the axis of the body nearly equally devel- 

 oped, and ' corresponding to each other, and the pseudobranchiae im- 

 perfect. Head compressed. Mouth terminal, large or small. Teeth 

 in villifonn bauds, the outer slightly enlarged, without canines; teeth 

 present on preraaxillaries, lower jaw, and vomer, and usually on pala- 

 tines also, sometimes on tongue, pterygoids. and hyoid. Premaxilla- 

 ries protractile; maxillary with a supplemental bane, which, in one 

 genus, is sometimes minute or obsolete. Preopercle entire or some- 

 what serrate; opercle ending in two flat points or prolonged in a black 

 flap at the angle. Preorbital short and deep; first suborbital narrow, 

 the maxillary not slipping under its edge. Gills 4, a slit behind Ilie 

 fourth. Pseudobranchia3 small, almost glandular, nearly or quite cov- 

 ered by skin. Gill-membranes separate, free from the isthmus. Bran- 

 ehiostegals C or rarely 7. Gill-rakers variously formed, armed \vith 

 s::iall teeth; lower pharyiigeal bones separate, their t<cth conic or 

 sometimes paved. Cheeks and opercles scaly. Body fully scaled, the 

 scales usually not strongly ctenoid, rarely cycloid. Lateral line present, 

 usually complete. Dorsal fins continent, the spines 6-13 in number 

 usually 10), depre.ssible in a shallow groove; anal spines ;;-<. Intes- 

 tinal canal sh ort . I'\ loric coeca 5-10. Vertebra- about :Ji. Coloration 

 usually brilliant, chiefly greenish. Sexes similar; changes with age 

 often great. Fresh-water fishes of Nort h America; genera 1<>: species 

 about L'.">, forming one of the most characteristic, features of our lish 

 fauna. .Many of the species build nests, which they defend with much 

 courage. All are carnivorous, voracious, and gamy. All are valued as 

 food in direct proportion to the si/e which they attain. 



VV arc ind-l>vd t-> Mr. Chos. L. M.-Kay (<>r ll-i- iv-nlts (if his studies of this family, 

 in I li<- advance of tin- publica! inn nl' a 11101:1 >.L; ra pli nl' I In- 



