Jordan and Evermann. — Fishes of North A/nertca. 633 



f Panchax, CuviEtt & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poles., xviii, 380, 1846, (panchax). 



Zii(jonecle.i, Agas.'^iz, Anioi-. Jonrn. .Sci. Arts, 1854, 135, {olii}acea = uolattts). 



Apvcheilichthi/s, Bleekeu, Mem. Soc. llarlem, 1863, 116, (fi/pits). 



Mlcristius, Gill, Canadian Naturalist, August, 1865, (cingnlutus). 



f Ilaplochihis, Gi'NTiiEH, Cat., vi, 310, 180G, (corrected spelling). 



Xeiiisma, Joudan, Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Hist., 1876, 142, (steUifera). 



Borborys* Bhoussonet MS., Goode & Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mas., 188.5, 204, {helcrocliliii.). 



Finitiwt-1, Jordan & Evermann, new subgenus, {seminolif). 



Gambimmts, Jordan & Evermann, new subgenus, (nilliliaii). 



Body rather elongate, little elevated, compressed behind. Month 

 moderate, the lower jaw projecting. Jaws each with two or more series of 

 pointed teeth, usually forming a narrow band. Bones of the mandible 

 firmly united. Scales moderate. Gill opening not restricted above, the 

 opercle with its margin not adnate to shoulder girdle. Preopercle, pre- 

 orbital, and mandible with mucous pores. Dorsal and anal fins similar, 

 small, or rather large, the dorsal inserted either in front of, above, or 

 behind, the front of anal ; ventrals well developed. Air bladder present. 

 Sexesdiftering in color, size, and development of the fins, the anal fin in the 

 male normal. liitestinal canal short. First superior pharyngeal with- 

 out teeth; second with teeth; third and fourth co-ossified, with teeth. 

 Species very numerous, mostly American, t inhabiting fresh waters and 

 arms of the sea. They are the largest in size of the Cypriuodonts, and 

 some of them are very brightly colored. They are oviparous and feed 

 chiefly on animals. Some of them are bottom fishes, burying themselves 

 in the mud of estuaries; others swim freely in river channels and bays; 

 still others are "top minnows," surface swimmers, feeding on floating 

 insects in swamps and streams. We here unite the nominal genus Zygo- 

 nectes to FimduJus, as there is a perfect gradation of the species from those 

 with long dorsal fin to those in which the dorsal fin is small and posterior. 

 The extremes of the two groups are, however, very different, the distinc- 

 tions being greater than usually occur within the limits of a natural 

 genus, (fundus, bottom, the abode of the " Fundulus viudfish.) 

 I. Species with the dorsal fin moderate or rather large, of 11 to 17 rays, its insertion above or 

 usuallj' in front of the insertion of the first ray of the anal ; scales largo or small. Free- 

 swimming species, not feeding at the surface, some of them often burying themselves in 

 the mud of bottoms in shallow water. 

 a. Dorsal fin inserted before origin of anal ; branchiostegals 5 or 6. 



FrNDBLUS : 



h. Scales large, 31 to 38 in a lengthwise series. 



* Goode & Bean, who have examined the type of CohUis heteroclilvx, Lintia^r.s, observe. 



"No. 11, Garden, 'Anonynios,' see page 305, vol. i. Smith's Correspondence of Linne. The 

 editor of this volume has evidently been misled by the common name 'mudfish' in referring 

 No. 11 to Amia cah'a, which was No. 4 of a later lot. (See page 312.) 



" The above exami)le was apparently the type of LinnC's de.'scription of Cobilis heterocUlus. In 

 the annotated copy of edition .xil, Linne wrote that it was referred to a new genus, ' llorbori/s,'' 

 of Broussonet, with the following characters: 'Corpus squamosum. Pinn. dorsi jnica. Maxill. 

 infer, intr. carin. Caput squamosum.' We have not been able to ascertaiu whether or not 

 Broussonet has published a descrijition of this genus. 



"The Skin is 122 mm. long. The head is J^ of the total length without caudal, and the depth 

 about the same. D. 12; A. 10. Scales in 33 longitudinal and 12 transverse rows. A black 

 blotch is still apparent on the posterior part of the dorsal." (Goode & Beau, Proc. U. S. Nat, 

 Mus., 1885, 204.) 



t The few European species referred to Fimdnbis seem allied to the subgenus Xenisma. The 

 Asiatic and African forms arc allied to or belong to the group '/.ijgonectes. In some of them the 

 anal fiu is much larger than in the Americau species. 



