Family XL Pceciliid^e. 109 



45. Lucania Girard. 



Lucania Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, 118. (Type, 

 Limia venusta Girard.) 



Body oblong, compressed; mouth moderate, its cleft short and 

 very oblique; lower jaw prominent; each jaw with a single series of 

 conical teeth; scales large, usually less than 30 in the lateral series; 

 gill openings not restricted ; the dorsal fin above or slightly in advance 

 of the anal; anal fin of male like that of female, not modified into an 

 intromittent organ nor with first rays short and stiff. 



98. Lucania venusta (Girard). 



Limia venusta Girard, U. S. Mex. Bd. Sur., 71, pi. xxxix, figs. 

 20-23, 1859 ; Indianola, Texas. 



Lucania afjinis Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, 118; 

 Matamoras, Tamaulipas. 



Lucania venusta Gunther, Cat., vi, 310, 1866: Jordan & Ever- 

 mann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1896, 665. 



Lagoons and inlets along the gulf coast of Mexico, north of Tam- 

 pico. 



Head 3^; depth 3^; D. 11 or 12; A. 9 or 10; scales 8-26. Body 

 rather strongly compressed, the dorsal and ventral outlines about 

 equally arched; head narrow, compressed, flattened above the eyes; 

 snout compressed, short, and vertically rounded, its height greater 

 than its width; mouth very small, protractile forward, the lower 

 jaw much projecting in open mouth; mandible heavy, short, and 

 strongly convex; less than diameter of orbit; teeth small, firm and 

 conical in a single series; eye large, 3 in head; origin of dorsal fin 

 nearly midway between tip of snout and base of caudal; origin of 

 anal fin opposite middle of dorsal; pectorals i}{ in head; ventrals if; 

 caudal fin slightly rounded; caudal peduncle long and slender, its 

 least depth about 2 in head. 



Color of male light olive, pale on the belly; sides with some silver 

 luster and with indistinct trace of an obsolete dusky lateral stripe. 

 Length about 2 inches. 



46. Zoogoneticus Meek. 



Zoogoneticus Meek, Field Col. Mus. Pub. 65, 1902, 91. (Type, Pla- 

 typcecilus quitzeoensis B. A. Bean.) 



Body little elongate, rather deep, somewhat compressed; mouth 

 moderate, the lower jaw projecting; jaws each with bands of pointed 

 teeth, the outer series the larger; scales moderate; gill openings not 

 restricted; dorsal fin usually large, of more than 12 rays; anal fin of 



