29 SILUKID.E AMIURUS. 103 



tlie bones is thick. Ej'es rather small, not covered by the skin. Mouth 

 large, terminal, transverse, the iipi^er jaw in most species the longer. 

 Teeth subulate, aggregated in broad bands on the intermaxillaries and 

 deutaries ; the intermaxillary band is convex in front, of equal breadth, 

 and abruptly truncated near the insertion of the intermaxillaries ; the 

 lower dental band is anteriorly semicircular, attenuated to the angles 

 of the mouth. Brauchiostegal rays 8-11. Doi-sal situated over the in- 

 terval between the i)ectorals and veutrals, higher than long, with a 

 pungent spine and about branched rays. Adipose tin short, inserted 

 over the posterior half of the anal. Anal fin varying length, with 15-35 

 rays, the usual number being 20 or 21. Caudal fin short, usually trun- 

 cate when spread open, slightly emarginate when not expanded. Veu- 

 trals each with 1 simple and 7 branched rays. Pectoral fins each with 

 a stout spine, which is commonly retrorse-serrate behind. Lateral line 

 usually incomplete. Species very numerous, swarming in every pond 

 and sluggish streain in the Eastern United States ; one species {A. can- 

 tonensis) in. Chinsb. (a, privative; /^£:'oy/?o?, curtailed; the caudal fin not 

 notched.) 



* Caudal fiu not forked, rounded or slightly emarginate. 

 a. Anal fin very short, its rays 15-17 (18). 

 b. Body comparatively long and slender. 



93. A. brucsDaeflBS Jordan. — Green Mud Cat. 



Clear olive-brown, more distinctly greenish than other cat-fishes ; a 

 blackish horizontal bar at base of dorsal. Body extremely elongate ; 

 anteriorly nearly terete. Head low, flat, and broad, upper jaw very 

 strongly projecting. Dorsal fiu very high, two-thirds length of head, 

 its spine nearer snout than adipose fin ; depth 5.^ in length. Head 3J; 

 its width 4; base of anal G; anal rays 10-18. Caudal sliuhtly emargi- 

 nate. Young much less elongate. L. 18 inches ; slenderest of the 

 Amiuri. Abundant in the streams of South Carolina and Eastern 

 Georgia (Santee to the Chattahoochee). 



(.Jordan, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. 1877, 3()(); Jordan, 1. c. 'J3 ; Jordan & Br.ayton, 

 Bull. U. S, Nat. Mus. xii, 28.) 

 aa. An-al fin moderate, its rays 19-22. 



c. Lower jaw not i)r()jectiug beyond upper. 



94. A. platycepliaSus (fJrd.) Gill. 



Olivaceous, somewhat marbled, a black horizontal bar at base of dor- 

 sal. Head broad and flat, nearly as wide as long. Mouth very wide, 

 the jaws about equal. Dorsal spine nearer snout than adipose fin. B. 

 11 ; A. 20-22, the base of the fin 1^-5 in length. 2^orth Carolina to 



