100 CHECK LIST OF THE 



Gen^s APLODINOTUS. (Fresh-water Drum.) 



Body oblong, the snout blunt, the back elevated and compressed ; 

 mouth rather small, low, horizontal, the lower jaw included; teeth in villi- 

 form bands, the outer above scarcely enlarged; no barlDels ; pseudo- 

 branchiae rather small ; gill rakers short and blunt ; lower pharvngeals 

 very large, fully united, with coarse blunt paved teeth ; preopercle slightly 

 serrate; dorsal spines strong and high, with a close fitting scaly sheath 

 at base, the two dorsals somewhat connected ; second anal spine verv 

 strong; caudal double truncate; air bladder very large, simple, with no 

 appendages; pyloric ca?ca, seven; vertebrcC, 10+14 = 24. 



(106) Sheepshead. Fresh-water Drum. 



(Aplodinotus grunniens.) 



Body moderately elongate, somewhat compressed ; head rather short ; 

 snout obtuse ; maxilla reaches to below the middle of the eye ; lower jaw 

 shorter than the upper. 



D. IX. I., 30 to 31 ; A. II., 7. The scales are very irregularly placed, 

 about fifty-five on the lateral line. 



Colour, greyish, darker on the back; lower parts silvery. \'oung 

 specimens have dark spots along the rows of scales, forming oblique lines. 



A common fish distributed throughout the entire Great Lakes region 

 and particularly abundant in Lake Erie. It reaches a large size, specimens 

 of over fifty pounds' weight having been taken from southern waters. 

 With us, however, about eight or ten pounds would be the maximum. 



It is a bottom fish, feeding chiefly upon crustaceans and molluscs. 

 It occasionally takes a minnow bait, but I have not found it a ready biter. 

 \^'hen hooked it fights hard and affords good sport to the angler, but as a 

 food fish it is worthless, its flesh being tough and coarse, with an unpleas- 

 ant odour. 



The name Jewel-head sometimes given to this fish refers to the oto- 

 liths, or ear-bones, frequently called "lucky stones," which arc found in 

 its skull. 



Order PLFXTOGNATHI. (The Plectognathoiis Fi.shes.) 



One of the most important offshoots of the .\canthopteri is the group 

 or order Plectognathi. The extremes of this group show a remarkable 

 divergence from the usual type of spiny-rayed fishes. 



The Plectognathi are thus defined by Dr. (iill : S(-apula suspended 

 to the cranium b\' a post-temporal which is short, un(li\idc'd and anchy- 

 losed to the epiotic. Premaxillaries usually coossified with the maxillaries 

 behind and the dcntarv l/oncs with the articular; intcropcrcle a !-lender 

 rod ; lower pharyngeal bones distinct ; upper pharxngeals laminar, usually 

 vertical and transverse ; skin usually with rough shields or scales or bony- 

 plates ; skeleton imperfectly ossified, the number of vertebra; usually small, 

 typically less than 24 (usually 14 to 20), rarely considerably increased. Gill 



