BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 13- 



One has a total length of 14 inches. The head is as broad as long and 

 contained in the body 3£ times. Depth in the length 3£. Anal fin 

 scarcely one-fourth the length of the body. The body narrows rapidly 

 posteriorly. Interorbital space in the head 1| times. Branchiostegals 10. 



60. Noturus leptacanthus ? Jor. 



Xoturus lepiaeauthus? Hay, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. iii, 1880, 514. 



In giving an account of a collection of fishes made in Eastern Missis- 

 sippi in 1880, 1 referred to Professor Jordan's Noturus leptacanthus, with 

 some hesitation, a specimen that I captured at Enterprise, Miss. I have 

 now another specimen that I caught in a small sandy creek flowing into 

 the Big Black River near Edwards. This preserves the characters shown 

 by the Enterprise specimen, the spines being one-half, or nearly one-half, 

 the length of the head. Without being able to compare it with typical 

 specimens of Xoturus leptacanthus, I am not prepared to describe it as a 



new species. 



ANGUILLID^E. 



61. Anguilla rostrata (LeS.)DeK. — American Eel. 



The head of a specimen of the common eel was given me by a fisher- 

 man at Jackson. 



AMIID^. 



62. Amia caiva L. — Bovofin Mud-fish; " GrinneU." 



Many of these were taken at Memphis. They are eaten by the negroes. 



LEPIDOSTEIDJE. 



63. Lepidosteus osseus (L.) Ag. — Garfish. 



A very common fish. Found at Memphis, Yicksburg, and Jackson. 



64. Atractosteus tristcechus (Blocli & Schn.) Gill.— Alligator Gar. 



Many of these were captured at Memphis, Yicksburg, and Jackson. 

 One has a length of 19 inches. They are said to grow to a length of 8 

 feet or more. 



RECAPITULATION. 



The following table indicates the distribution of the species in the 

 waters of Southwestern Tennessee, and in the northern two-thirds of 

 the State of Mississippi, as shown in the collections that I have thus far 

 made. In the first column are included the species collected at Corinth, 

 Miss., Memphis, Tenn., and Vicksburg, Miss. Iu the second are checked 

 the species collected at Edwards, Vaughan's, and Grenada, in the Big 

 Black, and its tributary, the Yalabusha. The third column indicates 

 the species taken from the Pearl. In the fourth column are noted the 

 species taken from the Tombigbee and the Chickasawha. To enable us 

 to compare these Southern fishes with those of the Mississippi Valley 

 further north, I have added a fifth column, in which are checked those 

 species that occur north of Kentucky. All, or nearly all, of these are 

 found in the State of Illinois. 



