83. ELASSOMATID^E ELASSOMA. 
4G1 
(IV, 10); A. II, G; V. 7 ; B. G; Lat. 1. 47-58. B. 5 inches. Slnggisli 
streams and bayous from ISTew York coastwise to Louisiana, and through- 
out the JMississippi Basin in lowlands and streams with alluvial bot- 
toms; locally abundant, variable. The singular variations in the posi- 
tion of the vent have given rise to several nominal species and a nomi- 
nal genus. 
(Scolopsis sai/atim Gilliams, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. iv", 81: Aphredodcrus gihho- 
sns C. &■ V. ix, 448: Sternotremia isolepis Nelson, Bull. Ills. Nat. JIus. i, 39, 187G: Aphro- 
dediras cooJciantis Jordan, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1877, GO: Asiernotremia mesoirema 
Jordan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. x, .92: Aphododerus isolepis Jordan, Man. Vert. ed. 2, 249; 
Giiuther, i, 271. For description of variations in the position of the vent, see Jordan, 
Bull. 111. Lab. Nat. Hist, ii, 48, 1878.) 
Family LXXXIII (6).— ELASSOMATID^. 
{The Elassomes.) 
Body oblong, compressed, covered with rather large, cycloid scales. 
Mouth small, terminal, the lower jaw projecting ; both jaws with rather 
strong conic teeth in few series ; no teeth on vomer or palatines; upper 
jaw very jirotractile. Bones of head with entire edges. Cheeks and 
opercles scaly. Gill-membranes broadly united, free from the isthmus; 
gill-rakers tubercle-like. Lower pharyngeals narrow, separate, with 
sharp teeth. Branchiostegals apparently 5. Lateral line obsolete. 
Vent normal. Dorsal fin single, small, with about 4 spines; anal with 
3 spines; ventrals thoracic I, 5; caudal rounded. Pseudobranchim 
none. Vertebrm 24. One species known, a very singular little fish, 
one o'f the smallest known, inhabiting the fresh waters of the United 
States; intermediate between the Aphredoderidee and Centrarchida;. 
241.— EI.ASSOMA Jordan. 
(Jordan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. x, 50, 1877 : typo Elassoma zonata Jordan ) 
Characters of the genus included above. {lXaaaoitiij.a^ a diminution.) 
'J'20. E. zosaatWEja Jordan. 
Color olive green, everywhere finely imnctulate; sides with about 
eleven parallel vertical bands of dark olive, about equal in width, nar- 
rower thfin the eye ; the bands about as wide as the pale interspaces ; 
a conspicuous roundish black spot, nearly as large as the eye, on the 
sides just above the axis of the body, under the beginning of the 
dorsal ; soft fins faintly barred ; a blackish bar at base of caudal. 
Body oblong, compressed, the nape rather broad and depressed. Head 
narrowed forward. Eye large, 3 in head. Mouth small, oblique, the 
