FISHES OF NEW YORK 507 



Genus hadropterus Agassiiic 

 Body rather elongate, compressed or not; mouth rather wide, 

 terminal, the lower jaw included, the snout above not protruding 

 beyond the premaxillaries, which are not protractile; teeth on 

 vomer and usually on palatines also; gill membranes separate 

 •or more or less connected; scales small, ctenoid, covering the 

 body; belly with a median series of more or less enlarged 

 ■spinous plates or ctenoid scales, which in most species fall off 

 at intervals, leaving a naked strip, in some species persistent 

 And but slightly enlarged; sides of head scaly or not; lateral line 

 •complete or nearly so; fins large, the soft dorsal smaller than 

 the spinous or the anal; anal spines two (one of them very 

 rarely obsolete); dorsal spines 10 to 15; ventral fins more or 

 less widely separated, specially in species with caducous plates. 

 .Vertebrae 39 to 44; H. as pro, 19+23=42; H. evides, 

 18+22=40; H. s c i e r u s, 18+22=40; H. phoxocephalus, 

 19+20=39. Parietal region more or less depressed, not strongly 

 ■convex in cross-section; supra-occipital crest usually present, 

 but small. Pyloric caeca two to four. Coloration bright, often 

 brilliant, sides usually with dark blotches. 



Subgenus alvordius Girard 



249 Hadropterus aspro (Cope & Jordan) 



Black-sided Darter 



Alvordius aspro Cope & Jordan, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 51, 1877, substi- 

 tute for Etheostoma bleimioides of Kirtland and Agassiz; Jordan 



; & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 501, 1883. 



Etheostoma aspro Bean, Fishes Penna. 123, 1893. 



Hadropterus aspro Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nait. Mus. 1032, 1896, 

 pi. CLXVI, fig. 438, 1900. 



Body slender, fusiform, elongate, its greatest depth one sixth 



of length without caudal; least depth of caudal peduncle nearly 



one third of length of head; head rather long and pointed, one 



fourth of total length without caudal; the maxilla extends 



slightly past front of eye; the mandible is included; the eye large, 



equal to length of snout and to one fourth the length of head; 



gill membranes slightly connected; postorbital part of head a 



little longer than the remainder; the nape scaly or naked; cheeks 



