20 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NOBTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY II. 



CENTRARCHID^. 



10. EUPOMOTIS. 



Eupomotis, Gill & Jordan, Field and Forest, 1877, v. 2, p. 190. 



In the Journal de Physique, June, 1819, page 420,* Rafinesque first 

 proposes the name Lepomin for the American Sunfishes, the type to be 

 Lahrua auritus of authors. The genus Lepomis he then proposes to 

 divide into two subgenera, Powio^?'s and ApomoUs^thei former having the 

 body rounded and the opercle aariculated, the latter having the body 

 rounded or obloug and the opercle without auricle. 



Of auriculated species, only one, auritus, is mentioned. This species 

 is then obviously the type of Pomotis ; but it had been already indicated 

 as the type of Lepomis. Pomotis then is typical Lepomis, and is a sim- 

 ple synonym of the latter name. 



In the Ichthyologia Ohiensis, in 1820, Rafinesque characteristically 

 changed some of these na.'iies ; Lepomis here becomes Icthelis, and 

 Apomotis, Telipomis. Pomotis is still used in the same sense as before. 

 In 1829, Cuvier and Valenciennes revived the name Pomotis of Rafi- 

 nesque in precisely the same sense in which Rafinesque used it, but in- 

 cluding several additional species. Cuvier does not credit the name 

 Pomotis to Rafinesque, but, in accordance with a custom then as now 

 too i)rovalent, in modifying the characters assigned to the genus, allowed 

 his own name to supersede that of the earlier author. That Cuvier 

 accepted the name Pomotis from Rafinesque is evident from the fact 

 that he quotes Rafinesque's descriptions in a foot note. Pomotis aud 

 Bryttus of Cuvier and Valenciennes are practically equivalent to Po- 



*"13. Lepomis (Thoraciqne). Corps arrondi, ovale on oblong, tres coaipriin^. Tote et 

 opercules 6cailleux, ceus-ci mutiques, le posterieur tiexueux, membraneux, quelquefois 

 auricnlc. Bouche petite, machoire a petits dents, 16vre supdrieure a peine exteusibJe. 

 Une nageoire dorsale ; nageoire tboracique a 6 rayons dont 1 6pineux sans appendices. 

 Anus au milieu. Ce genre est uouibreux en espfeces, je'u connois 7 a 8 des £tats-Unis; 

 son type est le Labrus auritus des autenrs, sous le nom duquel il y a 4 ou 5 espfeces cou- 

 fondiies. II dififfere particuli^rement du Sparus par son opercule ^cailleux et le d6faut 

 d'appendice tboracique. II se devise en deux sous-genre : 1. Pomotis. Corps arrondi, 

 opercule auricul6. 2. Apomotis. Corps arrondi ou obloug, opercule sans auricule ; mais 

 tous out le corps tacbet6 et une tacbe noire sur I'opercule. J'en ai decouvert deux 

 uouvelles espfeces dans I'Obio. 1. L. cyanelhts. Corps oblong, tout convert de points 

 bleus, joues 5, lignes flexaeuses bleues, opercule sans imriculo; tache oblongue, queue 

 bilob6e, 2. L. macruchirm. Corps ovale, points bruns, point d'auricule ; tacbe ob- 

 longue, toute noire; pectorales tres lougues atteignaut I'anale ; queue fourcb(Se." — 

 (RaI'INESQUE.) 



