122 Fretp Museum or Natura History — ZodLocy, Vor. X. 
very small mouths; while others, like Cichlasoma dovit, much resemble 
our black basses. No one has tested the game qualities of the cichlids, 
but a few that I have caught in Lake Managua on a baited hook cer- 
tainly put up a good fight. As food fishes they rank well with our 
sunfishes, and in the markets of the larger cities on the lakes in Nica- 
ragua they are offered for sale. 
These fishes are the most important food fishes of the fresh-waters 
of Central America. The Bobo (Joturus) and the Trucha (Agonosto- 
mus) are perhaps better flavored, but they are usually difficult to capture 
and more limited in their distribution, occurring usually only in swift 
running water. The large characins are too full of bones, and the 
catfishes (Rhamdia) are too small and too few in number to’ be of any 
special commercial importance, although their flesh is of excellent 
flavor. It would seem that the larger cichlids are deserving of consider- 
able attention. They are hardy and some of the larger species would, 
no doubt, do well to domesticate as pond fishes. 
The significance of the thickened lips in some species, as well as the 
hump deve'oped on the nape of others, is not well understood. The 
genus Cichlasoma has been broken up into a number of genera, most of 
which are scarcely of importance sufficient to be retained as subgenera. 
The following is a key to the species of Cichlasoma known to occur 
in the fresh-waters of Costa Rica: 
a. Mouth large; a few of the anterior teeth enlarged and canine- 
like; lower jaw the longer. 
b. Anal spines 4 to 6; pectoral fin short, about 124 in head; fold of 
lower lip free; dorsal XVIII to XIX, 12 or 13. dovit. 
bb. Anal spines 7 to 9; pectoral fin 1% in head; fold of lip free; 
dorsal XVII to XVIII, 9 or ro. Friedrichsthali. 
aa. Mouth smaller, no enlarged canine-like teeth in either jaw; jaws 
equal or the lower one the shorter. 
c. Fold of lower lip free. 
d. Free fold of lower lip broad, the lips usually thick, sometimes 
developed as fleshy median lobes; dorsal XVI, 13 or 14; anal IV 
to V, 9; caudal fin emarginate; pectoral not reaching anal; sides 
with dark bars; vertical fins with dark spots. tuba, 
dd, Free fold of lower lip narrow, without fleshy median lobes; dorsal 
XVI to XVII, 11 to 13; anal VI to VIII, 7 to 9; caudal fin 
rounded; vertical fins without dark spots. citrinellum, 
ce, Fold of lower lip interrupted at the symphysis. 
ce. Lower lip forming broad lateral folds; dorsal XVI, 11; anal V, 
8 to 9; caudal fin slightly rounded; sides with 5 to 6 dark cross 
