﻿HOLBROOK, FISHES OF FLORIDA, GEORGIA, &c. 55 



Description. — The head is large, broad, rather convex above, compressed at the 

 sides, with the snout very full and rounded. The eye is small ; it is placed twice its 

 diameter from the snout, oi diameters from the extremity of the opercle, with its 

 lower margins near the median plane of the head. The anterior nostril is tubular, 

 and very near the snout ; the posterior is a fissure in the root of the nasal barbel. 



The pre-opercle is large, strong, and semicircular. The opercle is long, narrow 

 with its angle somewhat prolonged. The opening of the mouth is very large trans- 

 versely ; the lower jaw and intermaxillary bone are each armed with a semicircular 

 patch of card-like, conical, and pointed teeth, arranged in several series ; the tongue 

 is stout, thick, broad and covered with papilla? near the tip and at the sides. The 

 superior pharyngeal bones are covered with numerous pointed, villiform teeth, and a 

 few teeth of rather larger size in front, with recurved points ; the inferior pharyngeal 

 has an oblong patch of minute, card-like, pointed, and nearly straight teeth. There 

 are eight barbels, all black and rather slender. The maxillary is long, extending to 

 the middle of the pectoral fin, and is flattened at its root. The nasal is delicate; it 

 extends midway between the snout and the angle of the opercle ; there are four 

 mental barbels equidistant from each other, but the two external are one fourth 

 longest. 



The dorsal fin is elevated ; it arises on a line with the posterior fourth of the 

 pectoral, and has one spine, which is serrated on its anterior margin, and six branched 

 rays ; the soft dorsal is rather large, and is placed opposite the posterior half of the 

 anal fin. The pectoral is large ; it arises rather in front of the termination of the 

 opercle, and ends with the root of the last dorsal soft ray; it has one spine, somewhat 

 flattened, and serrated at its anterior margin ; there are seven soft rays. The ven- 

 tral is short and placed far back, and extends to the root of the second anal ray; it 

 has eight branched rays. The anal is large, elevated and long, though it ends before 

 the root of the caudal ; it has tw T enty-two rays. The caudal fin is large, broad, and 

 nearly square at its tip, and has eighteen rays. 



Splanchnology'. — The liver is very large, thick, and entire in front, but terminating in two lobes behind; 

 from each side of the anterior central portion projects a lobule, into the corresponding hypochondrium, 

 which are here represented by cavities lined with peritoneum, and as these cavities are contracted at 

 their orifice, they seem at first view to be exterior to the common cavity of the abdomen. The gall 

 bladder is large, subpyriform, and is concealed by the right lobe of the liver. The stomach is broad 

 before, narrower, but thicker in its walls behind; it extends to about the middle of the abdominal 

 cavity, and is then reflected forward to form the pyloric portion ; it has numerous folds of mucous 

 membrane, and the pyloric valve is well marked. The small intestine is twice as long as the animal 

 itself, and has numerous convolutions. The rectum is broader than the small intestine, shorter, and 

 without a fold or valve. The kidneys are large and consist of two portions; one flat, ribbondike, and 



