13. BOLEOSOMA. 77 



13. BaLEOSOMA*. 



Boleosoma, Dekay, Ncio York Fauna, Fishes, p. 20. 



Six branchiostcgals. Minute card-like teeth, without canines; 

 teeth on the palatine bones ; tongue smooth. Two dorsals, the first 

 Avith nine or ten feeble, the anal fin with indistinct spines. Oper- 

 culum with a single point, prffioperculum smooth. Scales moderate. 

 No air-bladder. 



Fresh waters of the United States. 



1. Boleosomatessellatum. 

 Dekay, I. c. pi. 20. f. 57. 



D. 9 I 14. A.l. 



Nape depressed, contracted ; a deep furrow between the eyes ; 

 caudalis truncated. Brownish, with oblong quadrate .spots on the 

 back and sides. 



E.ivers of New York. 



2. Boleosoma lepidum. 

 Baird ^ Girard, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad. 1853, p. 388. 

 D. 9 I 11. A.f 



The head forms one-fourth of the total length, lleddish, with 

 indistinct transverse blackish bars ; base of tlm scales black ; fins 

 immaculate ; a vertical black spot beneath the cj'e. {B. ^ O.) 



Upper tributaries of the Rio Nueces, Texas. 



3. Boleosoma maculatum. 



Agass. Lake Super, p. 305. pi. 4. f. 3. 



D. 9 I 12. A. 11. 



The length of the head is one-fifth of the total ; the pectoral fin 

 rather shorter. Irregularly spotted on the back and the sides • 

 dorsal and caudal fins baiTed transversely with black. (Ac/.) 



Pic (Lake Superior). 



This flsh may prove to be the same species as Boleosoma tessel- 

 latum. 



* Agassiz (Lake Super, p. 299) refers to this genus Efheostoina olmstedi, 

 Storer (Bost. Journ. iv. p. Gl. pi. 5. f. 2). Agassiz also gives tlie diagnoses of 

 two other genera, closely allied to the above, Ktheustoma and Ptvcilosoma. All 

 these small fishes from North America are too little known to admit of their 

 separation into a family {Etheostoinafa. Ag.) Pikoma lias a great resemblance 

 to Litcioperca. 



