510 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



tlie preuiaxillaries not protractile. Yomerine teeth very feeble or 

 wanting. Scales large. Gill-membranes broadly connected; no en- 

 larged ventral plates. Lateral line complete. Dorsals well separated, 

 the second larger than anal, higher and shorter than siiinons dorsal ; 

 dorsal spines about 10; anal spines 2. (vw^oq, small; azoixa^ mouth.) 



a. Cheeks, opercles, and throat closely scaled. 



'?9§. N. zons^ae (Cope) Jor. 



Body slender, somewhat compressed. Head small, rather short; the 

 mouth small, subinferior. Snout decurved, rather obtuse, maxillary 

 not reaching front of eye. Cheeks, opercles, neck, and throat closely 

 sOv^iled. Eye rather large. Teeth very feeble, those on the vomer not 

 evident ; probably none on the palatines. First dorsal well developed, 

 separated from the second, which is higher and shorter than the spin- 

 ous dorsal, and considerably larger than the anal; caudal emarginate. 

 Bright olivaceous above, golden below; 6 dark-brown quadrate dorsal 

 spots, Vv'hich connect by alternating spots with a broad brown lateral 

 band, from which 8 narrower dark-bluish bands more or less completely 

 encircle the belly; paired, anal, and caudal fins golden, brown-spotted; 

 middle half of the first dorsal crimson; a series of round crimson spots 

 near the base of the second dorsal; occiput, a band on muzzle and one. 

 below eye black ; a black spot on operculum and one at base of pec- 

 toral; females duller and speckled with ventrals barred and lateral 

 bars feebler. Head 44; depth 5. D.XI-12; A. II, 7; scales 11-50-12. 

 L. 3 inches. Mississippi Valley, in clear streams; rather rare. 



{Poecilichthtja zonalis Cope, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1888, 212; Jordan, Man. 

 Vert. 225: ^anostomavinctipes Jordan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. ii, 236, 1879; the female.) 



yOO. If. eleg-^DBS Hay. 



Body stout, somewhat compressed. Head short and deep, with 

 swollen cheeks. Snout abruptly decurred. Mouth subterminal, hori- 

 zontal, small, the maxillary not reaching the front of the eye. Eye 1 

 in head. Lateral line nearly straight. Cheeks, opercles, and back of 

 neck scaly; chest and region just behind ventrals naked. Spinous 

 dorsal half as high as long, a little longer than the head; soft dorsal 

 f as long as head and § as high as long; anal f length of head, as high 

 as long; pectoral fins ^^ery large, reaching beyond ventrals to vent. 

 Color purplish ; C large quadrate black blotches along back and 8 broad 

 transverse bars along sides fainter, these alternating with dark spots; 

 many of the scales above with jet-black spots forming longitudinal 

 streaks; two black spots at base of caudal^ a few black spots behind 



