29 SILUIUD.E AMIUHUS. 103 



the bones is thick. Eyes rather small, uot covered by the skin. Mouth 

 large, terminal, transverse, the upper jaw in most species the longer. 

 Teeth subulate, aggregated 111 broad bauds on the iutermaxillaries and 

 dentaries ; the intermaxillary band is convex in front, of equal breadth, 

 and abruptly truncated near the insertion of the intermaxillaries ; the 

 lower dental band is anteriorly semicircular, attenuated to the angles 







of the mouth. Branchiostegal rays 8-11. Dorsal situated over the in- 

 terval between the pectorals and yeutrals, higher than long, with a 

 pungent spine and about G branched rays. Adipose tin short, inserted 

 over the posterior half of the anal. Anal fin varying length, with 15-35 

 rays, the usual number being 20 or 21. Caudal fin short, usually trun- 

 cate when spread open, slightly emarginate when not expanded. Yeu- 

 trals each with 1 simple and 7 branched rays. Pectoral fins each with 

 a stout spine, which is commonly retrorse-serrate behind. Lateral line 

 usually incomplete. Species very numerous, swarming in every pond 

 and sluggish stream in the Eastern United States ; one species (A. can- 

 tonensis) in China, (a, privative ; ij.ziupoq, curtailed ; the caudal fin not 

 notched.) 



* Caudal ftu not forked, rounded or slightly eniargiuato. 

 a. Anal fin very short, its rays 15-17 (18). 

 b. Body comparatively long and slender. 



93. A. l>S'wnaaCH Jordan. Green Mud Cat. 



Clear olive-brown, more distinctly greenish than other cat-fishes ; a 

 blackish horizontal bar at base of dorsal. Body extremely elongate ; 

 anteriorly nearly terete. Head low, flat, and broad, upper jaw very 

 strongly projecting. Dorsal fin very high, two-thirds length of head, 

 its spine nearer snout than adipose fin ; depth 5i in length. Head 3; 

 its width 4-, base of anal 6; anal rays 16-18. Caudal slightly emargi- 

 nate. Young much less elongate. L. 18 inches; slenderest of the 

 Amiuri. Abundant in the streams of South Carolina and Eastern 

 Georgia (Santee to the Chattahoochee). 



(Jordan, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. 1877, 3K6; Jordan, 1. c. 93 ; Jordan & Brayton, 

 Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. xii, 28.) 



aa. Anal fin moderate, its rays 19-22. 



c. Lower jaw not projecting beyond upper. 



94. A. platycephaHus (Grd.) Gill. 



Olivaceous, somewhat marbled, a black horizontal bar at base of dor- 

 sal. Head broad and flat, nearly as wide as long. Mouth very wide, 

 the jaws about equal. Dorsal spine nearer snout than adipose fin. B. 

 11 ; A. 20-22, the base of the fin 4^-5 in length. K"orth Carolina to 



