Jordan and Ever tnaim. — Fishes of North America. 1085 



upper jaw slightly the longer. Cheeks usually closely scaled, sometimes 

 almost naked ; opercles scaled ; nape scaled; breast naked. Fins moder- 

 ate. Chestnut-colored above, with about 9 quadrate bar-like blotches of 

 dark greenish along the sides, and about .5 dark cross blotches on ])ack; 

 body usually covered with dark dots; fins mottled with chestnut; spin- 

 ous dorsal with an orange-red bar across it near the edge; second dorsal 

 and anal speckled with golden, or with dark cross streaks. Texas speci- 

 mens with 3 dark spots at base of caudal, the median one most distinct. 

 No dark humeral spot ; lower fins dusky. Length If inches. Indiana to 

 Iowa and south to Mississippi and Texas: widely distributed but not very 

 common anywhere; perhaps more than 1 species included here, as the 

 types of jessia', asprigene and sicaini differ in form and coloration. Only 

 the form asprigene is well known as yet. (Named for Mrs. Jessie Dewey 

 Brayton. ) 



Poecilichtliijs jessUt',* Jordan & Bbayton, in Jordan's Man. Vertobnites, Ed. 2, 227, 1877, and in 

 Jordan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., xii, 1878, 59, Chickamauga River, Ringgold, Georgia, 

 (Coll. Jordan); Jordan & Gilbert, Synopsis, ,")18, 1883. 



Pcecilichlhys ai<])ri<jenis,\ Forbes, Bull, i, 111. Lab. Nat. Hist., 41, 1,S77, small creek at Pekin, 

 Illinois. (Coll. Forbes.) 



*The following is the original description of Pfeciliclithysjessia;, Jordan & Brayton: 

 Body fusiform, rather deep and compressed, the depth 5 to 6Y2 i" length, the form of the 

 body similar to that of P. speclahilis. Head rather large, moderately pointed, 4 in length- 

 mouth rather large, terminal, the upper jaw slightly longest, not protractile. Eye pretty 

 large, high up, 3^^ in head, about equal to snout. Cheeks naked, scaly above; opercles scaly; 

 throat naked; neck above scaly; scales medium, 6-45 to 50-7. Lateral line incomplete, but 

 extending farther than P. variabis and P. spectabilis, on about 35 scales, or nearly to the end of 

 the second dorsal. Fins moderate. Dorsal Xll-about 12. Anal II, 9. Color in spirits, oliva- 

 ceous, with about 9 squarish, bar-like blotches along the sides and about 5 cross blotches on the 

 back. Dorsal and caudal fins faintly barred. In life, the fish is chestnut-colored above and 

 the squares on the sides are briglit dark blue; the fins are mottled with chestnut. A dark yel- 

 low or orange baud across the dorsal. Second dorsal and anal with dark and golden specklings. 

 Several specimens, each about 2 inches long, taken in Chickamauga River at Kinggold. The 

 specimens are certainly not fully grown, and the coloration of the adult male is doubtless nnich 

 more brilliant. It will bo distinguished at once from P. rariatus (^cimileu!-) and P. sptrtidiilis by 

 the scaliness of the upper part of the cheeks, by the greater development of the lateral line, 

 the more numerous dorsal spines, and the coloration. This species is named for Mrs. Jessie D. 

 Brayton.. — Jordan ib Brayton. 

 fThe following is the original description of P(tcilichlhys asprigenii, Forbes: 

 Head 3% to 4; depth 4}^ to i^:^ in length, eye in head 3J4 to 4; nose about 73 ♦he eye. Width 

 at pectorals 8 to 10 in length; at middle of second dorsal 12 to 15. The caudal peduncle is 

 twice as long as high. Longitudinal rows 5j^- Breast alway.s naked, opercle wtiollj' scaly, 

 back wholly scaled before the dorsal, or a narrow strip left bare. The first dorsal consists of 

 from 9 to 12 spines; its height is from J^ to ^3 its length, and 73 the height of the second dor- 

 sal. The latter contains from 10 to 12 rays, of which, in one ca.se, the first was a stout, sharp 

 spine (XI-I, 11); its length is 73 that of the first, and | greater than that of the anal. Tbo ana! 

 consists of 2 spines and 7 or 8 soft rays, the longest ray reaching to the middle of the caudal 

 peduncle. Fourteen specimens examined; taken in small creek near Pekin, Illinois. Among 

 some specimens from Pekin, Illinois, w hose label as Prrilichthys sj>ei'lid>ilis had apparently served 

 to disguise them, I observed a number with scaly cheeks. Dr. Jordan has decided that these 

 are neither speclahilis norjVssi.r, and I have therefore described the series as a new species, 

 although the wide variation of so-called specific characters iiresented by them suggests that 

 several species of this genus may ultimately have to be merged. I have not been able, however, 

 with a large number of specimens, to trace the one wholly into the other, and I therefore U'&w 

 them distinct for the present. General appearance much like that of P. speclahilis', from which 

 it differs in the scaly cheeks, the more complete lateral line, and the greater number of vertical 

 rows of scales. In spectabilis the cheeks are eitlter wholly bare or a few scales ajipear behind 

 and below the eye. In asprigenis they are either wholly cov<'red or naked only on the lower 

 fourth. The vertical rows vary in my specimens of speclahilis from 38 to 43 (counting oulj* com- 

 plete rows), in asprigenis from 48 to 5'3. In the former, the lateral lino extends over from 25 to 

 31 scales, in the latter from 34 to 41. The head is small and pointed, the eye large (longer than 

 snout), the outlines regularly curved, the body compressed and rather deep, the mouth ter- 

 minal, oblique, and the jaws about even. Tlie dor.-ial fins are sometimes separated by distances 

 varying from the length of half a scale to a scale and a half, but are occasionally quite continu- 

 ous, the two being united by membrane. Length 35 to 45 millimeters. 



