ZOOLOGY. 293 



generally diffused, but they are most abundant in the streams 

 of the Mississippi valley and the Southern States. They are 

 small, perch-like fishes, and may even perhaps belong to that 

 family. A singular variation is exemplified in the develop- 

 ment of scales and of the lateral lines; while most of the spe- 

 cies have the body more or less completely covered with scales 

 like those of the perches, a few are nearly scaleless. In Amo- 

 cri/pta, for example, the body is almost entirely naked, the 

 scales being confined to the caudal peduncle and lateral line. 



A New North American Family. 



In a collection of fishes sent to Professor Jordan by 

 Professor H. S. Reynolds from the Little Red River, White 

 County, Ark., were found two specimens of the little fish 

 which Professor Jordan has considered as the representative 

 of not only a new genus, but a new family, or at first a sub- 

 family, of Ce?itrarchidce, whose nearest relations are to be 

 found in some extinct forms recently described by Professor 

 Cope. In form and external aspect it is said to have some 

 resemblance to Aphredoderus, but is more compressed. The 

 dorsal fin has five spines, the anal three ; the ventrals are 

 thoracic and normal in situation ; the branchiostegals are 

 five, and the membrane is broadly united across the pectoral 

 region ; the lateral line is absent ; the pharyngeal apparatus 

 is unknown. It is suggested by Professor Jordan that the 

 type is most nearly related to the Centrarchidce, or perhaps 

 the Cichlldce. Its position must, however, of course be provis- 

 ional, and it remains to be determined from the examination 

 of good specimens what are the true relations. The single 

 species has been named Elassoma zonata. 



Gigantic Tortoises. 



An interesting and noteworthy peculiarity in geograph- 

 ical zoology is the distribution of the gigantic species of 

 land tortoises of the genus Testudo. These are now entirely 

 confined to three archipelagoes (1) the Galapagos Islands 

 westward of the coast of South America; (2) the Masca- 

 rene islands Mauritius and Rodriguez ; and (3) the Aldabra 

 group, small islands lying northwest of Madagascar, in lat. 

 9 25' S., long. 46 20' E. It has long been known that these 

 several archipelagoes were the abodes of large land tortoises, 



