62 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



large proportion of the species is yearly destroyed. In its care of the nest, it is very 

 assiduous, and at this time it can be not only closely observed, but sometimes even 

 handled, without its deserting its charge. 



New Brunswick, PERLEY. Massachusetts, STORER. Vermont, THOMPSON. Con- 

 necticut, AYRES, LINSLEY. New Hampshire, H. R. STORER. New York, MITCHILL, 

 DEKAY. Ohio, KIRTLAND. Kentucky, RAF. The Great Canadian Lakes, RICHARDSON. 



, POMOTIS APPENDIX, Dekay. 



The Red-tailed Bream. 

 (PLATE III. FIG. 4.) 



Lalrus appendix, Slack-tared Pond fish, MITCHILL, Supp. to Amcr. Month. Mag., n. p. 247. 

 Pomotis appendix, DEKAY, Report, p. 32. 



" " LINSLEY, Cat. of Fishes of Conn. 



Pomotis rutri-cauda, Red-tailed Pomotis, STORER, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist., iv. p. 177. 



" " LINSLEY, Cat. of. Fishes of Conn. 



Pomotis appendix, STORER, Mem. Amer. Acad., New Series, n. p. 294. 



" " STORER, Synopsis, p. 42. 



Color. When alive, of a general rusty brown, or in some specimens golden brown, 

 more strongly marked above the middle of the body by ferruginous spots being densely 

 distributed along the scales ; these spots are more sparse and more distinct below the 

 lateral line ; the body, beneath and in front of the ventral fins, of a blood-red color ; 

 the throat is bluish-white. A bluish-white undulating line runs from the upper jaw 

 just beneath the eye, across the operculum and beneath the opercular membrane to 

 its posterior extremity ; a second line of a similar character arises just above this, and, 

 interrupted by the eye, again commences back of it, and passes over the opercular 

 membrane ; so that the membranous appendage of the operculum, which is broad, 

 rounded posteriorly, and of a uniform black color, is between these lines. Beneath 

 the undulating lines just spoken of are bluish-white blotches irregularly distributed upon 

 the preoperculum, some of them passing downwards towards its lower edge. Pupils 

 black, irides red. The dorsal fin is anteriorly of a dark-brown color ; its posterior 

 membranous portion is red. The ventrals are red at their base and black at ex- 

 tremities. The pectorals are of a yellowish-brown color. The anal is yellowish at 

 its base and fuliginous at its margin. The caudal is of a blood-red color. After death, 

 the body becomes of a bluish-gray color ; the abdomen changes to orange ; the ex- 

 tremities of the ventrals are purple ; and the tail is rust-colored, livid posteriorly. 



Description. Length of head, including the opercular membrane, equal to about one 

 third the length of the body ; greatest depth of fish,- exclusive of the dorsal and 

 anal fins, equal to more than one third the length of the body. The head, between 



