SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 263 



division in a number of genera. Body not particular!}'- elongate, and in some 

 species rather stout; mouth terminal or slightly inferior; premaxillaries not pro- 

 tractile; teeth in jaws strong, vomer and palatines usually toothed; parietal 

 region of skull very strongly convex in cross section; gill-membranes either 

 connected or not; body completely scaled, the scales on median ventral surf ace 

 small and persistent; lateral line nearly straight, sometimes deficient posteriorly; 

 pyloric coeca 3 or 4; fins well developed; first dorsal with 7 to 15 spines, the fin 

 larger than second, which is larger than anal; anal spines 2, the first larger, the 

 second rarely rudimentary ; ventral fins close together. Nearly 40 species known. 

 7 being recorded from North Carolina, distinguished as follows: 



Key to the North Carolina species of Etheostonia. 



■i. Lateral line complete or practically so, only a few pores being absent. 



a. Gill-membranes rather broadly j oined together; ventral fins very close together, the inter- 

 space less than width of base of fin. 

 h. Head without any scales. 



c. Pectoral fms about length of head; scales in lateral series 48 or less; dorsal 



spines 9 to 11; head .25 total length or more thalassinum. 



cc. Pectoral fins .33 longer than head; scales in lateral series 48 or more; dorsal 



spines 11 or 12; head less than . 25 total length swannanoa. 



bb. Head partly scaled zonaie. 



an. Gill-membranes only slightly joined together; ventral fins still closer together. 

 d. Snout abruptly decurved, scales in lateral series 50 to 60. 



e. Dorsal spines 11 or 12 camurum. 



ee. Dorsal spines 14 vulneratum. 



dd. Snout not decurved; scales in lateral series 45 to 48 rufilineatum. 



a. Lateral line incomplete, extending about to end of spinous dorsal; dorsal spines about 8; 

 head naked, scales in lateral series 40 to 65; caudal large, rounded flabellare. 



(Etheostoma, various-mouthed.) 



228. ETHEOSTOMA THALASSINUM (Jordan & Brayton). 

 Sea-green Darter. 



Nothonotus thalassinus Jordan & Brayton, 1878, 13; Catawba River, Reedy River, Ecoree River; Saluda River 



and other tributaries of the Santee in North and South CaroUna. 

 Etheostonia thalassinum, Jordan, 18896, 139; Bucks Creek and Johns River, tributaries of Catawba. Jordan 



& Evermann, 1898, 1071. 



Diagnosis. — Form rather stout, back arched, depth contained 4.75 to 5 times in length 

 head large, contained 3.6 to 4 times in length; snout blunt, as long as eye, which is contained 

 3.5 to 4 times in head; upper jaw longer, reaching backward to eye; head, throat, and anterior 

 part of neck without scales; scales in lateral series 40 to 48, in transverse series 6 + 6; fins large; 

 dorsal rays ix to xi + 10 to 12; anal rays ii,7 or ii,8; caudal distinctly lunate; pectorals as 

 long as head. Color: mottled olive green, sides with 6 or 7 bluish green cross-bars; belly 

 orange; head grass green, with dark green streaks below eye; spinous dorsal reddish at base, 

 then black, the distal third red; soft dorsal black at base, reddish above; caudal with 2 orange 

 spots at base, orange on margin, black between; anal brilliant bluish green, with pale tip; 

 ventrals green; pectorals orange at base with a dark spot; female duller and more speckled. 

 (jthalassinum, sea green.) 



This species is known only from the Santee basin, in which, according to 

 Jordan, it is much the commonest of the darters. It is especially abundant in 

 Bucks Creek among weed-grown rocks. Length, 2.5 inches. 



