56 DESCRIPTIONS OF ETHEOSTOMOIDS. 



scarcely projecting beyoud the membrane. Gill-membranes very widely 

 joined across isthmus, the width of the union being two-thirds distance 

 from posterior margin of membrane to tip of lower jaw. Eyes small, 

 high up, their diameter two-thirds snout and 4^ in head. 



Spinous dorsal long and rather low, composed of stiff spines, the 

 membrane of last spine joining base of first soft ray ; the middle spines 

 the highest, about half length of head. Second dorsal shorter and 

 higher than the first, much larger than the small anal tin, its longest 

 ray If in head. Anal spines short and robust, the first longer than 

 second; longest anal ray about equaling length of snout. Caudal lunate. 

 Pectorals very large, reaching much beyond ventrals, about one-third 

 length of body. Length of ventrals equaling distance from snout to 

 base of pectorals. Least depth of caudal peduncle two-fifths depth of 

 body. 



Body covered with very large scales, those on nape somewhat smaller. 

 Head and breast wholly naked. Lateral line complete, straight. 



Head 4t in length ; depth 4f . D. XII, 12 ; A. II, 8. Lateral line, dSf. 

 Length, 2| inches. 



Color in life : Light olive-green above, with four conspicuous black- 

 ish-brown cross-bars, narrower than the interspaces, running from back 

 downward and forward to below lateral line ; the first, very broad, occu- 

 pies the entire nape, and terminates above base of pectorals ; the sec- 

 ond, much narrower, begins below end of spinous dorsal ; the third 

 below last rays of soft dorsal ; the last bar, much less conspicuous, on 

 back of caudal peduncle. On middle of each light interspace is a sim- 

 ilar, somewhat broader, bar, less clearly marked, and with ill-defined 

 boundaries. These bars terminate below lateral line in seven or eight 

 dusky blotches. Each scale on back and sides with the central portion 

 light red, changing to golden brown in spirits. Belly and lower fourth 

 of sides silvery- white. Two bright areas at base of caudal, with a 

 blackish bar immediately behind them ; caudal indistinctly barred with 

 dusky. Dorsals translucent, the membrane between each two rays with 

 an elongate dusky-red blotch, extending two-thirds height of fin ; spin- 

 ous dorsal margined with light red. Pectorals barred with dusky and 

 light-yellowish. Ventrals with traces of similar bars. Anal translu- 

 cent, an indistinct yellowish band along its middle. 



Two specimens were taken near Florence, Ala., by the writer and Mr. 

 Joseph Swain, the largest of these (the type of the present description, 

 numbered 36187 on the register of the National Museum) in Cox's 

 Creek, the smaller in Shoal Creek — clear, rapid streams, tributary to 

 the Tennessee River. 



This species is very close to Etheostoma inscriptnm Jordan & Bray- 

 ton, but differs from published descriptions of the latter in form, in 

 some details of coloration, and in the smaller eye. We have bad no 

 specimens of inscriptum with which to compare it. 



