792 Bulletin 4"/, United States National Museum. 



Head narrow; eye small. Silvery white; back greenish, with the scales 

 partly spotted with brown. Known only from a drawing made by Poey 

 at Havana. (Poey.) {niK(i6c, small ; wt/;, eye.) 



Atherina microps, Poet, Meniorias, ii, 266, 1861, Havana. 



353. LETHOSTOLE, Jordan & Evermann. 



Lethostole, Jordan & Evermann, new genus, (eslor). 



This genus is allied to Chirostoma, with which it agrees in the project- 

 ing lower jaw. The jaws are, however, longer than in Chirostoma, the 

 scales much smaller and crenate. Fresh waters of Mexico. {aWoiiul, to 

 forget; aro/l^, stole.) 



1154. LETHOSTOLE ESTOR (Jordan). 

 (Pescapo Blanco de Chapala.) 



Head 3i ; depth 6; eye 5. D. V-I, 12; A. I, 18; scales 72-18. Body 

 rather robust. Head very large, pike-like. Mouth very large, the maxil- 

 lary reaching to past the front of the eye. Intermaxillaries forming the 

 edge of the jaw strongly curved, their posterior portions broadly dilated. 

 Teeth strong, in several series in each jaw. Two small fang-like teeth 

 on the front of the vomer. Lower jaw considerably projecting beyond 

 the upper. Eye large, anterior, shorter than snout, and a little narrower 

 than the interorbital space, which is nearly flat. Head covered with 

 scales, which are smallest on the occipital region, and largest on the 

 lower part of the cheeks; smaller scales on the iuteropercle. \ Sides of 

 head vertical, a conspicuous ridge along the edge of the top of ihe head 

 above and behind the eye. Scales small, anteriorly crowded ; posterior 

 margin of scales strongly crenate, so that the fish feels rough to the 

 toucli ; pectorals moderate, nearly half as long as head, reaching slightly 

 past the base of the ventrals ; ventrals rather short, reaching nearly f 

 the distance to the base of the anal ; anal moderate, beginning consider- 

 ably in front of the dorsal and ending a little behind it ; spinous dorsal 

 beginning nearly midway between insertion of ventrals and anal, separ- 

 ated from the soft dorsal by a distance equal to about f the length of the 

 base of that fin. Caudal somewhat forked. Coloration uniform in spirits, 

 the silvery lateral band but faintly indicated. Length lOJ inches. Lake 

 Chapala, Guanajuato. One of the largest of the Atherinida', resembling a 

 pike in its form, and in the large head and mouth, {estor, eater, a name 

 applied by Le Sueur to the pike.) 



Chirostoma estor, Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1879, 298, Lake Chapala, Mexico. (Type, 

 No. 23124. Coll. Professor Diiges.) 



354. CHIROSTOMA, Swainson. 

 (Pescados Blancos.) 



Chirostoma, Swainson, Class'n Fishes, etc., 243, 1839, (hiDiiboldtiamim). 



AtherinoUles, Bleekeb, Verhand. Batav. Genootsch., Japan, xxv, 40, 1853, {vomerina). 



Alherinichth/B, Bleeker, 1. c, 40, (himibnhltiannm). 



Ueterognathus, GlUARD, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1854, 198, (humbohlliana). 



