240 Fishes of the Ohio and its Tributaries. 



The soft rays diaphanous, connected by a dusky, opaque 

 interstitial membrane, and extending to the base of the 

 caudal fin. 



Caudal fin short, abrupt, slightly lunate. 



Anal fin, not as long as the dorsal, the four first spinous 

 rays gradually increasing in length, the fifth and sixth equal 

 to the fourth, and two thirds the length of the longest of the 

 soft rays, which equal those of the dorsal. 



Ventral fin triangular, but in the specimen before me, does 

 not attain to the anal, in accordance with the description of 

 Le Sueur. 



Pectoral fin ovate rounded, pellucid, and does not reach as 

 far back as the point of the ventral. 



Length 7 to 10 inches. 



Color is generally coppery, occasionally tinged with green ; 

 head and back dusky-olive, blotched irregularly with dark 

 spots : the jaws, lips and throat dusky ; thorax bluish or steel- 

 grey. The black spots on the bases of the scales give a band- 

 ed appearance to the sides and back. The bright colors so 

 vivid during life, fade away at the approach of death. 

 D. 11—11: a 17 f; A. 6—10 ; V. 5; P. 16. 



Observations. The preoperculum is minutely but distinct- 

 ly denticulated on its inferior edge and posterior angle, and 

 the operculum terminates behind the eye in two obtuse spines 

 connected by an intervening membrane. 



It abounds in almost every permanent stream in our State, 

 and usually harbors beneath logs, rocks and stumps, where it 

 is easily taken by a baited hook. During winter it does not 

 migrate. 



The specimen before me, was obtained in the Cincinnati 

 market, and is of the same size as the plate. It has one less 

 spinous ray than Le Sueur's figure in the 2d vol. of the Jour. 

 Acad, of Nat. Sciences, Philadelphia. 



