512 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



OESCRIPTIOIV OF THREE IVEW FISHES FROITI KAIVSAS. 

 By CHARLES H. 01LB£RT. 



The material upon which the followiug descriptions are based was 

 collected in the tributaries of the Kansas and Arkansas Rivers, in the 

 State of Kansas, by Prof. F. W. Cragin. The species were described 

 by me in a paper on the Fishes of Kansas, published in the " Bulletin 

 of the Washburn Laboratory of Natural History" for September, 1884, 

 pp. 10-16, the descriptions being republished here for convenience of 

 reference. 



Amiurus cragini,* sp. nov. 



Closely related to Amiurus brunneus Jordan. Body rather high and 

 compressed, much as in A. catus, which the present species much re- 

 sembles in appearance. Profile straight, but not steep, from snout to 

 front of dorsal. Head depressed, flat and narrow, becoming little nar- 

 rower forwards, its greatest width If in its length, the depth at occiput 

 If. Upper jaw the longest, conspicuously projecting beyond the lower. 

 Outline of gape strongly convex forwards, the width of mouth equaling 

 interorbital width, slightly less than half length of head. Eye small, 3f 

 iu interorbital width, 7^ in head. Maxillary barbel reaching beyond 

 basal third of pectoral spine ; inner mental barbels scarcely reaching 

 margin of branchiostegal membrane, the outer slightly beyond it. Top 

 of head with a longitudinal median groove extending from snout to oc- 

 ciput, bounded by two strong, nearly parallel ridges. 



Dorsal tin high, its longest ray § in head, the spine weak, not serrated, 

 2§ in head, slightly more than half the space between dorsal and adi- 

 pose flu. Pectoral spines short, with a few weak serriB on inner mar- 

 gin, smooth without, their length about equaling dorsal spine. Ventrals 

 nearly reaching the front of the anal, which is short, its base 5 in length. 

 Caudal somewhat mutilated, apparently emarginate, with the upper lobe 

 the longest. 



Head 3f in length ; depth 4^. A. 17. 



Color in spirits: Very light brownish above and on sides, belly and 

 lower side of head silvery ; the ba(;k and top of head darker than the 

 sides, which are dusted with flue brown points. Fins and barbels 

 dusky. 



A single specimen, 5 inches long, from "the Lake" (a blind arm of 

 the Arkansas Eiver), at Garden City, Kans. 



Type specimen numbered 36814 on the catalogue of the U. S. Na- 

 tional Museum. 



* On examinatiou of more material, and comparison with specimens from various 

 localities, this proves to be a synonym of the widely distributed Amiiinis mcla.i Kaf. 

 The small size of the spines has not before been jiointed out as a mark of this species. 

 In specimens from the same locality as the one above noted, tlie anal (in lias lit rays. 



