86. SEERANID^ ROCCUS. 
529 
conical, scaly above and on sides. Mouth rather large, nearly horizon- 
tal ; the jaws equal, or the lower projecting. Premaxillaries protrac- 
tile; maxillaries large, without supplemental bone, only the edge of the 
anterior part slipping under the preorbital. Teeth all villiform, in 
bands, on jaws, vomer, palatines, and tongue. Eye large, orbital ridge 
a little elevated. Preopercle serrate behind and below; the teeth of 
its lower margin sometimes enlarged. Opercle with two flat spines. 
Preorbital narrow. Pseudobranchim large. Scales large. Breast 
scaly. Dorsal fins separate or connected at base, the anterior with 9 
strong spines. Anal spines well developed. Caudal fin lunate. Pec- 
torals small. Species about 6, in America and Europe, inhabiting both 
fresh and salt waters. (Name derived from the vernacular “ Eoek-fish.”) 
a. Serrse on lower edge of preopercle small, not directed forwards. 
i». Teeth on base of tongue; anal spines graduated ; lower jaw projecting ; scales 
on cheeks almost cycloid ; dorsal fins separate, 
c. Teeth on base of tongue in two patches ; body elongate, little compressed. 
{Roccus Mitchill.) 
§30. R. lineatus (Bloch) Gill. — Striped Bass; RocJc-fish ; Rock. 
Olivaceous- sil very ; sides and below silvery white or brassy; sides 
marked with 7 or 8 longitudinal dark bands, one of which runs along 
the lateral line; the stripes usually continuous. Body elongate, little 
elevated; the young slender; axis of body about in the middle of the 
depth of the body. Mouth large, oblique; the large maxillary reaching 
to below the middle of orbit. Eye about half length of snout. Pec- 
toral short, 1| in head. Spines slenderer than in the other species ; the 
second anal spine ^ length of head. Head 3^ in length; depth 3^. D. 
IX-I, 12; A. Ill, 11; Lat. 1. 65. L. 3-4 feet. Atlantic coast; entering 
rivers ; one of the largest and finest of our game fishes. 
{Sdcena lineata Block. Iclith. ix, 53 : Roccus lineatus Gill. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Pkila. 
1860, 64 ; Labrax lineatus Holbrook, Ich. S. C. 1860,24 : Labrax lineatus Gunther, i, 64.) 
cc. Teeth on base of tongue in a single patch ; body oblong, compressed. {Lepiberna * 
R.af. ) 
§31. R. chrysops (Raf.) Gill. — White Bass. 
Silvery, tinged with golden below the lateral line and with reddish 
above ; sides with blackish or dusky longitudinal lines, 4 or 5 above 
the lateral line, one through which the lateral line runs, and a variable 
number of more or less distinct ones below it, the latter sometimes 
more or less interrupted or transposed. Dorsal outline much curved; 
*Rafinesque, Ich. Oh. 1820, 23: type Perea ehrpsops. (Acffz?, scale; firfuoc, stair; 
from “ the scaly bases of the fins.”) 
Bull. Nat. Mus. No. 16 34 
