412 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



of a once large family represented by numerous fossils from the 

 Jurassic of France and Bavaria and the Eocene of Europe and 

 North America. 



OTHER FISHES OF THE EVERGLADES. 



The catfish caught in the slough near Paradise Key is in all prob- 

 ability A7neiurus nehulosus, a species which has been collected in 

 Little Eiver, a short distance north of Miami. Among the Cyprin- 

 idae are the golden shiner, Ahramis roseus^ a tiny species, only 2| 

 inches long when fully grown, which takes its name from the rosy 

 color of the fins, iris, and snout of the male. Among the killifishes 

 (Poeciliidae) of southern Florida, which are to be expected from the 

 vicinity of Eoyal Palm State Park, are several species of Fundulus, 

 some of which do not exceed 2 inches in length when fully grown; 

 the viviparous " top minnow," Gambima afflms^ which lives mostly 

 on surface insects ; the " least fish," Heterandi'ia formosa^ abundant 

 in swamps and ditches near Miami and Little River, the adult female 

 of which is only an inch long, and the male three-quarters of an inch ; 

 Jordanella f-OTid<M., also common in the swamps of Florida; and 

 perhaps MoUicnisla ongipinna^ the male of which is remarkable for 

 his handsome dorsal fin. Among the sunfishes (Centrarchidae) 

 which certainly occur in the Royal Palm State Park, are the so- 

 called blue bream, or bluegill, Lepomis incisor {Lepomis pallidus 

 Jordan), and Lepomis hoTbroohi {Eupomatis holhrooki Jord. and 

 Everm.). A beautiful illustration in colors of the former is pub- 

 lished in the Fishes of North Carolina, by Dr. Hugh M. Smith, 

 LTnited States Commissioner of Fisheries, who pays it the following 

 tribute : 



This is the largest and finest of the sunfishes. It attains a length of 12 to 

 14 inches and a weiglit of a pound and a half, and when full grown is a 

 magnificent species. As a game and food fish it stands high. * * * This 

 fish has for many years been called Lepomis pallkhis in the belief that Mitchill's 

 name of Labrus ■ pallidus applied to it ; but a close examination of Mitchill's 

 description shows that it could not have been intended for this species, and 

 furthermore the bluegill is unknown in the locality from which the t>'pe of 

 pallidus came. The earliest available name is incisor of Cuvier and Valen- 

 ciennes.^ 



Drawings of both Lepomis incisor and L. holhrooki were made for 

 the writer by Master Stewart Loveland of Homestead, who caught 

 them in the slough near Paradise Key. 



BIG- MOUTHED BASS, OR TROUT. 



This species, known scientifically as Mieropterus salmoides^ is the 

 largest and most important of the fresh-water basses, and is a fine 



^ See North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey, vol. 2, p. 242, pi. 9. 1907. 



