FAMILY PERCID^ LABRAX. 7 



EXTRA LIMITAL. 



P. nebulosa. (Haldeman, Ac. Sc. Vol. 8, p. 330.) Body slender, slightly compressed; scales 

 small, strongly serrated; tail trimcated; pectorals very long; branchial rays 6; lateral line 

 straight; yellowish brown, with dark transverse bands. D. 14.15; P. 14; V. 7; A. 11; C. 18. 

 Length 5 '5. Susquehannah River. 



P. minima. (Id. ib. p. 330.) Spots instead of bands. Dorsal with nine rays. Length 2-0. Sus- 

 quehannah. 



Obs. Both these species are arranged by Mr. Haldeman under a subgenus of Percidae, which 

 he terms Pcrcina, characterized by six branchial rays ; preopercle smooth on its margin ; opercle 

 ends in a spine, and with the cheeks scaly ; teeth all fine, and placed on the maxillaries and vomer. 



GENUS LABRAX. Cuvier. 



A disk or bands of teeth on the tongue. Suborbital and humerus without denticulations. 

 Two points on the opercle. Two dorsal fins distant and separated. Teeth on both jaws, 

 on the vomer and palatines . Cheeks, preopercle and opercle scaly. Preopercle notched 

 or denticulated below, serrated behind. 



THE STRIPED SEA BASS. 



Lairax lineatus. 



PLATE I. FIG. 3. — (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Sciena Imeata. Bloch, pi. 304. 



Perca, Rock-fish, Striked Bass at New-York. ScHOEPFP, Beobachtungen, etc. p. 160. 



Perca saxatilis. Bloch, Schnkid. p. 89. 



P. septentriotmlis. Id. p. 90, pi. 20. 



Cenlropome raye. Lacepede, Hist. Nat. des Poissons, Vol. 4, p. 255. 



Roccus striates. MiTCHiLL, Report in part on the Fishes of New-York, p. 25. 



Perca mitchilli. Id. Trans. Lit. and Phil. Society of New- York, Vol. 1, p. 413, pi. 3, fig. 4. 



Rock-fish. Mease, Ib. Vol. 1, p. 502. 



Le Bar raye, Labrax lineatus. Cov. et Val. Hist. Poiss. Vol. 2, p. 79. 



The Striped Bass, L. lineatus. Storer, Massachusetts Report, p. 7. 



Characteristics. Brown above, silvery beneath. From seven to nine blackish longitudinal 

 stripes on each side of the body. Length from one to four feet. 



Description. Body cylindrical, tapering. Head and body covered with large adhesive 

 scales. Lateral line obvious, running through the fourth stripe and nearly straight. Head 

 somewhat obtusely pointed. Eyes large, and about two diameters apart. Nostrils double, the 

 posterior largest. Gill openings ample. Lower jaw longest. Teeth numerous in the jaws 

 and palatines. Teeth on the tongue most obvious on its sides. Opercle with two spines on 

 its posterior margin, of which the inferior is largest. Preopercle finely denticulated along its 

 lower margin. The first dorsal commences behind the pectoral, and above the latter rays of 



