242 



FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



2.9 to 3.5, concave; eye 3.3 to 4; nose pointed, scarcely as long as eye, 4 to 



4.7 in head; mouth small, oblique, maxillary nearly to middle of orbit, 2.5 to 



2.8 in head; opercular flap broad and thin, not prolonged; gill-rakers X -f- 30. 

 setiform. Dorsal XI or XII (or rarely XIII), 12-14, its longest spine about 

 2 in head; length of dorsal about 1.2 to 1.3 times length of anal; caudal lunate; 

 anal VII or VIII (occasionally VI), 13-15; ventrals past fourth anal spine; 

 pectorals to 7th or 8th anal spine, 1 to 1.2 in head. Scales 6 or 7, 41-43, 13 

 or 14; lateral line complete; scales on cheeks in 6 or 7 rows. 



This little fish, found by us only in extreme southern Illinois 

 from Hamilton county southward, is a distinctly southern 

 species, occurring in lowland streams and bayous of the lower 

 Mississippi Valley, and in the south Atlantic region from 

 Florida to Virginia. In this state we have taken it in only 

 thirteen collections, all from creeks and sloughs tributary to the 

 Little Wabash, the Big Muddy, and the Cache. 



The species is said by Jordan to reach a length of six inches. 

 Owing to its small size and comparative scarcity, except here and 

 there in the South, it is of no commercial importance. 



GENUS AMBLOPLITES RAFINESQUE 



ROCK BASS 



Body oblong, moderately elevated, compressed, but robust; opercle 

 ending in two flat points; preopercle serrate at its angle; mouth large; sup- 

 plemental maxillary well developed; teeth (Fig. 56) on vomer, palatines, 

 tongue, entopterygoids, and ectopterygoids, a single patch on the tongue 

 (Fig. 57), pharyngeal teeth sharp; gill-rakers rather long and strong, dentate, 

 less than 10 in number; dorsal spines 10 or 11; anal spines normally 6; caudal 

 emarginate; scales somewhat ctenoid. Central, eastern, and southern United 

 States, and Canada; one species. 



