83. ELASSOMATID.E ELASSOMA. 401 



(IV, 10); A. II, G; V. 7; B. 6; Lat. 1. 47-58. L. 5 inches. Sluggish 

 streams aiid bayous from New York coastwise to Louisiana, and through- 

 out the Mississippi Basin in lowlands and streams with alluvial bot- 

 toms; locally abundant, variable. The singular variations in the posi- 

 tion of the vent have given rise to several nominal species and a nomi- 

 nal gens. 



(Scslopsis say anus Cillia:ns, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. iv, 81: Aphredoderus gibbo- 

 sns C. &. V. ix, 448: Stcrnotremia isolcpis Nelson, Bull. Ills. Nat. Mus. i, 39, 1876: Apliro- 

 dedirus cookianus Jordan, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1877, 60: Aster notremia mesotrema 

 Jordan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. x, f>2: Aphocloderns isolcpis Jordan, Man. Vert. ed. 2, 24'J; 

 Giiuthcr, i, 271. For dc-icriptiou of variations in the position of the vent, see Jordan, 

 Bull. 111. Lab. Nat. Hist, ii, 43, 1878.) 



FAMILY LXXXIII (6). ELASSOMATID^E. 



(The Elassomes.) 



Body oblong, compressed, covered with rather large, cycloid scales. 

 Mouth small, terminal, the lower jaw projecting ; both jaws with rather 

 strong conic teeth in few series ; no teeth on vomer or palatines; upper 

 jaw very protractile. Bones of head with entire edges. Cheeks and 

 opercles scaly. Gill-membranes broadly united, free from the isthmus; 

 gill-rakers tubercle-like. Lower pharyngeals narrow, separate, with 

 sharp teeth. Branchiostegals apparently 5. Lateral line obsolete. 

 Vent normal. Dorsal fin single, small, with about 4 spines; anal with 

 3 spines; ventrals thoracic I, 5; caudal rounded. Pseudobranehise 

 none. Vertebrce 24. One species known, a very singular little fish, 

 one of the smallest known, inhabiting the fresh waters of the United 

 States ; intermediate between the Aplircdoderldce and Centrarchidcc. 



241. EILASSORIA Jordan. 



(Jordan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. x, 50, 1877 : type Elassoma zonata Jordan.) 



Characters of the genus included above. (Ika.aff6u><j.a, a diminution.) 



722. E. zocaatttjna Jordan. 



Color olive green, everywhere finely puuctulate; sides with about 

 eleven parallel vertical bauds of dark olive, about equal in width, nar- 

 rower than the eye ; the bauds about as wide as the pale interspaces ; 

 a conspicuous roundish black spot, nearly as large as the eye, on the 

 sides just above the axis of the body, under the beginning of the 

 dorsal ; soft fins faintly barred ; a blackish bar at base of caudal. 

 Body oblong, compressed, the nape rather broad and depressed. Head 

 narrowed forward. Eye large, 3 in head. Mouth small, oblique, the 



