Jordan and Ever mann. Fishes of North America, 1085 



upper jaw slightly the longer. Cheeks usually closely scaled, sometimes 

 almost naked; opercles scaled ; nape scaled; breast naked. Fins moder- 

 ate. Chestnut-colored above, with about 9 quadrate bar-like blotches of 

 dark greenish along the sides, and about 5 dark cross blotches on back ; 

 body usually covered with dark dots ; fins mottled with chestnut ; spin- 

 ous dorsal with an orange-red bar across it near the edge; second dorsal 

 and anal speckled with golden, or with dark cross streaks. Texas speci- 

 mens with 3 dark spots at base of caudal, the median one most distinct. 

 No dark humeral spot ; lower fins dusky. Length If inches. Indiana to 

 Iowa and south to Mississippi and Texas; widely distributed but not very 

 common anywhere; perhaps more than 1 species included here, as the 

 types ofjessice, asprigene and swaini differ in form and coloration. Only 

 the form asprigene is well known as yet. (Named for Mrs. Jessie Dewey 

 Bray ton. ) 



PoecilicWiys jessiae* JORDAN & BRAYTON, in Jordan's Man. Vertebrates, Ed. 2, 227, 1877, and in 

 JORDAN, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., xn, 1878, 59, Chickamauga River, Ringgold, Georgia, 

 (Coll. Jordan); JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 518, 1883. 



Pcecilichlhys asprigenis,^ FORBES, Bull, i, 111. Lab. Nat. Hist., 41, 1877, small creek at Pekin, 

 Illinois. (Coll. Forbes.) 



*The following is the original description of Pcecilichlhysjessia;. Jordan & Brayton: 

 Body fusiform, rather deep and compressed, the depth 5 to 5% in length, the form of the 

 body similar to that of P. spectabilis. Head rather large, moderately pointed, 4 in length; 

 mouth rather large, terminal, the upper jaw slightly longest, not protractile. Eye pretty 

 large, high up, 3> in head, about equal to snout. Cheeks naked, scaly above; opercles scaly; 

 throat naked; neck above scaly; scales medium, 6-45 to 50-7. Lateral line incomplete, but 

 extending farther than P. variatus and P. speciabilis, on about 35 scales, or nearly to the end of 

 the second dorsal. Fins moderate. Dorsal Xll-about 12. Anal II, 9. Color in spirits, oliva- 

 ceous, with about 9 squarish, bar-like blotches along the sides and about 5 cross blotches on the 

 back. Dorsal and caudal fins faintly barred. In life, the fish is chestnut-colored above and 

 the squares on the sides are bright dark blue; the fins are mottled with chestnut. A dark yel- 

 low or orange band across the dorsal. Second dorsal and anal with dark and golden specklings. 

 Several specimens, each about 2 inches long, taken in Chickamauga River at Ringgold. The 

 specimens are certainly not fully grown, and the coloration of the adult male is doubtless much 

 more brilliant. It will be distinguished at once from P. variatus (= coeruleus) and P. spectabilis by 

 the scaliness of the upper part of the cheeks, by the greater development of the lateral line, 

 the more numerous dorsal spines, and the coloration. This species is named for Mrs. Jessie D[ 

 Brayton.. Jordan & Brayton. 



f The following is the original description of Pvecilichthyii asprigenk, Forbes: 

 Head 3% to 4; depth 4% to 4% in length, eye in head 3% to 4; nose about % the eye. Width 

 at pectorals 8 to 10 in length; at middle of second dorsal 12 to 15. The caudal peduncle is 

 twice as long as high. Longitudinal rows %. Breast always naked, opercle wholly scaly, 

 back wholly scaled before the dorsal, or a narrow strip left bare. The first dorsal consists of 

 from 9 to 12 spines; its height is from % to % its length, and % the height of the second dor- 

 sal. The latter contains from 10 to 12 rays, of which, in one case, the first was a stout, sharp 

 spine (XI-I, 11); its length is % that of the first, and f greater than that of the anal. The anal 

 consists of 2 spines and 7 or 8 soft rays, the longest ray reaching to the middle of the caudal 

 peduncle. Fourteen specimens examined; taken in small creek near Pekin, Illinois. Among 

 some specimens from Pekin, Illinois, whose label as Pa'dlichtfiys spectabilis had apparently served 

 to disguise them, I observed a number with scaly cheeks. Dr. Jordan has decided that these 

 are neither spectabilis nor jessine, and I have therefore described the series as a new species, 

 although the wide variation of so-called specific characters presented by them suggests that 

 several species of this genus may ultimately have to be merged. I have not been able, however, 

 with a large number of specimens, to trace the one wholly into the other, and I therefore leave 

 them distinct for the present. General appearance much like that of P. spectabilis, from which 

 it differs in the scaly cheeks, the more complete lateral line, and the greater number of vertical 

 rows of scales. In spectabilis the cheeks are either wholly bare or a few scales appear behind 

 and below the eye. In asprigenis they are either wholly covered or naked only on the lower 

 fourth. The vertical rows vary in my specimens of spectabilis from 38 to 43 (counting only com- 

 plete rows), in asprigenis from 48 to 5'J. In the former, the lateral line extends over from 25 to 

 31 scales, in the latter from 34 to 41. The head is small and pointed, the eye large (longer than 

 snout), the outlines regularly curved, the budy compressed and rather deep, the mouth ter- 

 minal, oblique, and the jaws about even. The dorsal fins are sometimes separated by distances 

 varying from the length of half a scale to a scale and a half, but are occasionally quite continu- 

 ous, the two being united by membrane. Length 35 to 45 millimeters. 



