68 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



Mouth large, with the cleft oblique ; the posterior ex- 

 tremity of the upper jaw extends nearly to, or beyond, the 

 posterior border of the eye. Lips but slightly developed. 

 Preoperele smooth and rounding at its angle. Opercle 

 nearly triangular, eraarginate behind, ending in two flat 

 points. Subopcrcle extends beyond the opercle, ending in 

 a membranous point. Interopercle rounded below. Gill 

 openings large. Branchiostegals six on each side. Scales 

 on all of the opercular apparatus, except on the preoper- 

 cular limb, where there are none, or very few. 



Both jaws are armed with pointed, sharp, card-like teeth, 

 curving backward. Patches of villiform teeth on vomer, 

 palatine and pharyngeal bones. Gill-rakers long and 

 stout, and armed with teeth. Tongue moderate and free ; 

 thick behind, narrow in front ; its surface usually smooth. 



Body elongate, ovate-fusiform, somewhat compressed ; 

 deepest just behind the ventrals. Scales moderate; smaller 

 on breast and nape. Lateral line following curve of the 

 back. 



Dorsal fin with ten spines ; a deep notch between the 

 spinous and soft portions. Anal fin with three spines. 

 Caudal emarginate. 



Pyloric coeca fourteen or more. Air-bladder simple, 

 slightly notched behind. 



Generic Character hat Ions. 



MrcROPTERUS Lacepede, 1802. — " Un on plusiers aiguillons, 

 ct point de dentelure aux opercules; un barbillon, ou point de 

 barbillon aux machoires ; deux nageoires dorsales ; la seconde 

 tres-basso, tr^s-courte, et comprenant au plus cinq rayons." — 

 (Lacepede, /ii.sf. Nat. des Rms. IV, 325, 1802.) 



Caeliukus Rnfinesquo, 1819. — "Corps oblong comprime. 

 Tete et opercules ecailleux, preopercule lisse, a 3 sutures care- 



