184 MEMOIRS OP THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM 



the lower ends of the bars; vertical fins, and sometimes tips of ventrals, spotted. 

 The specimen in the Leiden museum mentioned by Bleeker agrees with the above. 



Subfamily Doradin^e. 



Doras Lacepede. 17 



Doras Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Poiss., V, 1803, 116 (carinatus and costatus) — Cuvier 



and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., XV, 1840, 267 (costatus). 

 Centrochir Agassiz, Selecta Gen. et Spec. Pise. Bras., 1829, 14 (crocodili). 

 Lithodoras Bleeker, Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk., I, 1863, 84 (lithog aster) . 

 Pterodoras Bleeker, Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk., I, 1863, 84 (granulosus). 

 Platydoras Bleeker, Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk., I, 1863, 86 (costatus) = Doras 



Cuvier and Valenciennes. 

 Acanthodoras Bleeker, Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk., I, 1863, 86 (cataphr actus) . 

 Astrodoras Bleeker, Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk., I, 1863, 86 (asterifrons) . 

 Amblydoras Bleeker, Nederl. Tijdschr. Dierk., I, 1863, 86 (affinis). 

 Zathorax Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1872, 271 (monitor) = Astrodoras 



Bleeker. 

 Agamyxis Cope, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, XVII, 1878, 101 (pectinifrons) . 



Type, Silurus costatus Linnseus. 



Doradines with anterior nares on or near the upper lip ; the snout short, the eye 

 in anterior half of the head; teeth well-developed; adipose fin usually with a well- 

 defined anterior margin. 



Key to the Species of Doras. 



a. Caudal forked; dorsal spine serrate in front and behind, the serrae of the anterior margin antrorse. 

 Sides of dorsal spine with striations (Doras). 

 6. Plates of the sides increasing in height to the caudal peduncle, the highest about .4 the height of 

 the peduncle; caudal peduncle naked above and below, spotted, without lateral bands. 



granulosus. 



66. Plates of sides decreasing in height regularly from the dorsal to the caudal, not meeting along a 



median line above or below; caudal peduncle with a series of plates above and below. 



Slate-colored above, with a yellow band from the fontanel along the sides to the tip of the 



middle caudal rays; ventral surface without ossifications costatus. 



aa. Caudal very slightly emarginate or rounded; dorsal spine without serrations either in front or behind, 

 the sides of the spine with smooth striations; plates of the sides decreasing in height from the 

 dorsal to the caudal, not meeting above and below; caudal peduncle largely naked above and 

 below, the caudal fulcra continued about half-way to adipose and anal fins; chocolate brown with 

 an irregular dark band below the median hooks of the lateral plates, and other darker blotches; 



nuchal region roof -shaped. (Amblydoras) hancocki. 



17 Doras maculatus Valenciennes, Miiller and Troschel, in Schomburgk, Reisen, III, 1S48, 629 (Esse- 

 quibo). 



