86. SERRANID.E ROCCUS. 529 



conical, scaly above and on sides. Mouth rather large, nearly horizon- 

 tal ; the jaws equal, or the lower projecting. Premaxillaries protrac- 

 tile; maxillaries large, without supplemental bone, only the edge of the 

 anterior part slipping under the preorbital. Teeth all villiform, in 

 bands, on jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue. Eye large, orbital ridge 

 a little elevated. Preopercle serrate behind and below; the teeth of 

 its lower margin sometimes enlarged. Opercle with two flat spines. 

 Preorbital narrow. Pseudobranchke large. Scales large. Breast 

 scaly. Dorsal fins separate or connected at base, the anterior with 

 strong spines. Anal spines well developed. Caudal fin lunate. Pec- 

 torals small. Species about 6, in America and Europe, inhabiting both 

 fresh and salt waters. (Name derived from the vernacular " Bock-fish.") 



a. Serrse on lower edge of preopercle small, not directed forwards. 



b. Teeth on base of tongue ; anal spines graduated ; lower jaw projecting; scales 



on cheeks almost cycloid ; dorsal fins separate. 



c. Teeth on base of tongue in two patches ; body elongate, little compressed. 

 (Roccus Mitchill.) 



830. R. lineatus (Bloch) Gill. Striped Bass; Rock-fish; Eock. 

 Olivaceous-silvery; sides and below silvery white or brassy; sides 



marked with 7 or 8 longitudinal dark bands, one of which runs along 

 the lateral line; the stripes usually continuous. Body elongate, little 

 elevated; the young slender; axis of body about in the middle of the 

 depth of the body. Mouth large, oblique ; the large maxillary reaching 

 to below the middle of orbit. Eye about half length of snout. Pec- 

 toral short, If in head. Spines slenderer than in the other species ; the 

 second anal spine length of head. Head 3 J in length; depth 3 J. D. 

 IX-I, 12; A. Ill, 11; Lat. 1. 65. L. 3-4 feet. Atlantic coast; entering 

 rivers ; one of the largest and finest of our game fishes. 



(Scicena lineata Bloch. Ichth. ix, 53 : Roccus Uncatus Gill. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 

 1860, 64 : Labrax lineatus Holbrook, Ich. S. C. 1860,24 : Labrax Uncatus Giinther, i, 64.) 



cc. Teeth on base of tongue in a single patch ; body oblong, compressed. (Lepibema * 

 Raf. ) 



831. R. chrysops (Raf.) Gill. White Bass. 



Silvery, tinged with golden below the lateral line and with reddish 

 above ; sides with blackish or dusky longitudinal lines, 4 or 5 above 

 the lateral line, one through which the lateral line runs, and a variable 

 number of more or less distinct ones below it, the latter sometimes 

 more or less interrupted or transposed. Dorsal outline much curved ; 



*Rafinesque, Ich. Oh. 1820, 23: type Perca chrysops. (AeTfz?, scale; ftrjuoi, stair; 

 from " the scaly bases of the fins.") 



Bull. Nat. Mus. No. 16 - 34 



