22 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY II. 



tweezers or seen with a hand-glass. The appendages of the anterior 

 p:ill-arch only are thus enlarged, those of the other arches remaining 

 undeveloped. 



In Xenotls, the gill rakers are not essentially dissimilar on the differ- 

 ent arches. They are short, comparatively thick, soft, having a cartila- 

 ginous or unossified basis, and are nearly destitute of teeth or tooth like 

 roughnesses. The brilliant colors, low dorsal spines, and especially the 

 great development of the opercular flap in Xenotis, form additional dis- 

 tinctive characters, although not independently of generic value. 



13. XENOTIS SOLIS, ( Valenciennes) Gill & Jordan. 



romotis soils, ^Valenciennes (1831), Hist. Nat. des Poissons, vii, 468. (Specimens sent 

 by Le Sneur from nt^ar New Orleans. Those referred to from New York doubt- 

 less belong to Lepiapamus auritus.) 



Numerous specimens of a sun-fish from the Tangipahoa River, Lou- 

 isiana, have, been identified by us with Valencieunes's species as above, 

 and examples have been distributed by the United States ISTational Mu- 

 seum under the name of Xenofis solis. Of course, it is not possible from 

 Yalencieunes's description to know certainly which one of our numerous 

 similar species he had in mind, but it is safer to identify with the pres- 

 ent species than with any other, and our X. &olis does not seem ever to 

 have received any other name. 



Xenotis soils is an elongate species for the genu^, most of the species 

 of which are short and deep. It is, however, heavy forward, the re- 

 gion before the dorsal being quite prominent, forming a marked angle 

 over the eye with the rising profile of the face. The greatest depth is 

 2^ in the length. The head is large, 3 in length, without the opercular 

 flap; 2^ including the flap. 



* The following is Valenciennes's description : — 



Le Pom OTIS sun-fish (Pomotis solis noh.). 



Uu autre pomotis du lac Pontchartrain, envoy«5 par M. Le Sueur, pourrait bien encore 

 ^tre'd'une espeice distincte. 



La couleur parait d'etre un Jaune verdMre uniform, plus ou moins dor^, sans aucnne 

 trace de taches ou de raies sur le corps et sur les nageoires. Le lambeau de I'oreille 

 est plus long et plus 6troit que dans aucun autre. Lea nombres sont, D. 10-11 : A. 3- 

 10, etc. 



II est long de quatre b, cinq pouces. 



Les Anglo-Am^ricains de la Nouvelle-Orl^ans donnent a cette esp^ce le nom de sun- 

 fisk (poisson de soleil). M. Le Sueur ne nous explique pas ce qui a motivcS cette 

 d<5nomiuation. 



Nous rapportons h cette esp^ce des individus mal color^s, qui nous ont 6t6 envoy^s 

 de New York par M. Milbert. 



