268 



FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



strongly ctenoid, 45 to 60 in lateral series, 3 + 12 in transverse series; nape, cheeks, opercles, 

 and breast well scaled, rarely naked; fins rather small; dorsal fins well separated, anterior 

 with IX or X low spines, posterior higher, with 9 to 12 rays; anal rays ii,6 to ii,8; caudal rounded; 

 pectorals about as long as ventrals, shorter than head. Color: variable, usually dark green 

 above, paler below, the upper parts irregularly blotched or mottled with darker; a dark bar 

 below eye, another anterior to eye; spinous dorsal bright blue, with a median zone of red; soft 

 dorsal, caudal, and pectorals with dark bars or spots; other fins plain, {fusiformis, spindle- 

 shaped.) 



Fig. 117. Fusiform Darter. Boleichthys fusiformis. 



This darter, which inhabits lowland streams, swamps, and lakes from Massa- 

 chusetts to Texas, and is doubtless to be met with in various parts of North 

 Carolina, is as yet known only from Lake Mattamuskeet, where it was collected 

 by the Bureau of Fisheries in 1900. 



Genus COPELANDELLUS Jordan & Evermann, Darters. 



Similar to Boleichthys but differing in having the top of the head closely 

 scaled; body slender, compressed; eye large; gill-membranes not connected; 

 lateral line high, incomplete behind; cheeks, opercles, breast, and nape scaled; 

 snout, jaws and preopercle naked. One species. (Named for Herbert Copeland, 

 of Indiana, an early associate of Dr. Jordan and a student of the darters.) 



236. COPELANDELLUS QUIESOENS (Jordan). 

 Copeland's Darter. 



PcEcilichthys quiescens Jordan, Proceedings U. S. National Museum, 1884, 478; Allapaha River, Georgia. 

 Copelandellus quiescens, Jordan & Evermann, 1896, 1100, pi. cIxxxt, fig. 468. 



Diagnosis. — Depth .2 length; head .27 length; eye more than .25 head and much longer 

 than snout; maxillary reaching to a point under pupil; scales in lateral series 48 to 55, in trans- 

 verse series 3 + 10; lateral line on 20 to 28 scales; dorsal rays ix to xii + 9 to 12; anal rays ii,7; 

 caudal rounded; pectorals long. Color: dark brown, with bright red and blackish mottlings 

 on back and sides; 3 black bars about eye; a black humeral spot; dorsal, anal, and caudal fins 

 dark-barred; other fins plain, (quiescens, remaining quiet.) 



Inhabiting the lowland swamps and sluggish streams of the coastal plain 

 from Virginia to Florida, this species has not heretofore been recorded from 

 North Carolina. Mr. William F. Seal, of the Aquarium Supply Company, 

 Delair, New Jersey, has collected numbers of specimens in the vicinity of Wil- 



