FISHES PERCIDAE POMOTIS AQUILENSIS. 



25 



List of specimens. 



4. POMOTIS AQUILENSIS, B & G-. 

 PLATE IX, FIGS. 14, and PLATE X, FIGS. 811. 



SPEC. CHAR. Body sub-elliptical in profile. Head moderate ; snout bluntly sub-conical. Mouth moderate ; posterior 

 extremity of maxillary extending to a line intersecting the anterior rim of the orbit. Eye moderete. Edge of the preopercle 

 slightly denticulated or serrated. Opercular flap variable, oftentimes elongated and well developed. Extremities of pectorals 

 not extending as far back as those of the ventrals which overlap the vent and leach the anterior margin of the anal fin. Reddish 

 brown ; fins greyish olive, unicolor ; dorsal and anal provided with a black patch. 



SYN. Pomotis aquilensis, B. & G. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VI, 1853, 387. 

 Pomolis nefastus, E. & G. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VII, 1854, 24. 



This species is also one of those which were first brought home by the United States and 

 Mexican Boundary Commission, to whose Eeport we must refer for more ample informations. 

 Subsequent researches have convinced us of the specific identity between P. nefastus and 

 P. aquilensis. The species is one of those subjected to great variations by the outgrowth of 

 various regions of the body. The opercular flap assumes different degrees of development 

 according to the specimens, being larger, of course, in full grown ones than in the young. 

 The individual on Plate IX, fig. 1, is somewhat deformed in the abdominal outline, the snout 

 being at the same time protruding beyond all proportions, giving rise to a conspicuous nuchal 

 depression. It comes nearest to the variety which we had formerly described as Pomotis 

 nefastus. The black patches of the dorsal and anal fins are obliterated. 



References to the figures. Plate IX, fig, 1, represents an outgrown specimen of Pomotis 

 aquilensis, ( P. nefastus,) size of life, procured in the Eio Blanco, Texas. Fig. 2 is a dorsal 

 scale. Fig. 3, a scale from the lateral line. Fig. 4, a scale from the abdominal region. 



Plate X, fig. 8, represents, size of life, a young specimen of the same species, caught in 

 Sugar-loaf creek, Arkansas. Fig. 9 is a dorsal scale. Fig. 10, a scale from the lateral line. 



Fig. 11, a scale from the abdominal region. 

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