84. CENTRARCHIDJE AECHOPLITES. 465 



Variable, Mississippi Valley, &c.; abundant southward, cliiefly in 

 sluggish streams ; valued as a food-fish. 



(Rafinesque, Amer. Montlily Mag. 1818, 41 ; Raf. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1818, 

 417; Raf. Ichth. Ob. 1820, 33; Jordan & Copeland, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1876: 

 Pomoxys storcrius, brevicauda, inter medius, and protacanthus Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 Phila. 1885, 64-66: Ctntrarclius nitidus Gimther, i,257.) 



aa. Dorsal spines 7 or 8. (Hypcristius * Gill.) 



725. P. sparoodes (Lac.)Grd. Calico Bass; Grass Bass; Barfish; Strawberry Bass. 

 Body oblong, elevated, much compressed. Head long, its profile not 

 strongly S shaped; the projection of tbe snout and ante-dorsal region 

 and the depression over the eye being less marked than in P. annularis. 

 Mouth smaller than iu P. annularis, the maxillary reaching about to the 

 posterior edge of pupil, the mandible shorter than pectorals. Scales on 

 cheeks in G rows. Fins very high ; anal higher than dorsal, its height 

 4-5 times iu length of body. Color silvery olive, mottled with clear 

 olive-green, the dark mottlings gathered in irregular small bunches, and 

 covering the whole body ; vertical fins with dark olive reticulations sur- 

 rounding pale spots; the anal marked like the dorsal ^a dusky opercular 

 spot. Head 3 ; depth 2. D. VII or VIII, 15 ; A. VI, 17 or 18 ; Lat. 1. 41. 

 L. 12 inches. Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi Valley to New Jersey, 

 and southward to Florida and Louisiana ; chiefly in lowland streams and 

 lakes; a handsome fish ; valued as food. 



(Ldbrus sparoides Lace"p. Hist. Nat. Poiss. iii, 1802,517; and iv, 717: Centrarclius 

 sparoides C. & V. iii, 8, 1829: Centrarclius hexacanthus C. & V. vii, 458, 1831 : Centrar- 

 clius hexacanthus Giinther, i, 257: Pomoxys hexacanihus Hoi brook, Ichth. S. C. 29: 

 Pomoxys niyromaculatus Jordan, Man. Vert. ed. 2, 247, and Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. x, 37, 

 based on Cantharus nigromaculatus Le Suenr MSS., noticed by C. & V. iii, 8.) 



944. ARCBIOPLITES Gill. 



(Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1851, 165: type Centrarclius interruptus Girard.) 



Body oblong, compressed, the back elevated. Mouth large, oblique, 

 the broad maxillary with a well developed supernumerary bone. Teeth 

 on jaws, vomer, palatines, tongue, and pterygoids ; lingual teeth in two 

 patches ; pharyngeal teeth pointed. Gill-rakers long and strong, com- 

 pressed, numerous, about 20 in number, some of them on the upper por- 

 tion of the arch. Branchiostegals 7. Operculum. emarginate, the lower 

 point much the larger, striate, the ridges terminating in small spines; 

 preopercle, iuteropercle, subopercle, suborbital and preorbital with their 

 inferior edges conspicuously serrate; dentaries and preopercle with large 

 muciferous depressions or pits. Dorsal fin with about 13 spines; anal 



* Gill, Amer. Journ. Sci. Arts, 1834, 92 : type Centrarclius hcxacantlms C. & V. 

 high; itiriov, sail.) 



Bull. Nat. Mus. No. 16 30 



