SHINING BASS. 927 



Centrarchus iridevs, Cuv. et Val., iii, 1829, 89.— DeKat, Fauna N. Y., Fishes, 1842, 31.— 

 Storbr, Syn., 1846,391.— GUNTHER, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mns., i, 1859, 257.— Holbrook, 

 S. C, 1S60, 18.— Putnam, Bull. M. C. Z., i, 1863, 6.— Cope, Proo. Amer. Philos. Soo. 

 1870, 451.— Jordan, Man. Vert., 1876, 230 ; Ann. N. Y. Acad. Soo., i, 1877, 97 ; Ball, 

 U. S Nat. Mns., No. 10, 1877, 36 ; Man. Vert., 1878, 246 ; Bull. Hayden's Geol.Snrv., 

 iv, 1678, 437 ; Bull. U. S. Nat. Mns., No. 12, 1878, 47.— Nelson, Cat. Fishes 111. 1876i 

 37.— Bban, U. S. Nat. Mns., 96. 



Eucentrarchus irideus, Glix, Am. Joam. Soi. and Arts, 1844, 93. 



Description. — Body Tery short, euborbionlar, the snont projecting at a considerable an- 

 gle ; back and belly closely compressed ; the greatest thickness of the body being 

 thtonghthe opercular region ; top of head broad andflajttish, the interorbital space being 

 abont equal to eye ; mouth small, very oblique, almost vertical, the maxillary scarcely 

 reaching the middle of eye ; eye very large, about 3 in head ; head 3 in length of body ;: 

 greatest depth 2 ; dorsal XI to XIII, 12 or 13 ; anal VIII, 13 or 14 ; lateral line 

 with 37 to 43 scales ; color silvery green, with about 20 horizontal dark stripes along the 

 rows of scales, the number of stripes becoming abruptly smaller on caudal peduncle 

 where there are 8 or 9 ; a black spot on last rays of dorsal ; a blackish bar below eye. 

 Length of 4 to 6 inches. 



Diagnosis. — This species may be known at once among our fresh water 

 fishes by the presence of 7 to 9 spines in the anal fin, and 11 to 13 in the 

 dorsal. 



Habitat — North Carolina to Southern Illinois and southward, in deep 

 and sluggish streams of the lowland. It has been found in abundance 

 by Prof. S. A. Forbes in Southern Illinois near Cairo. It has not yet 

 been noticed in Ohio, but is to be looked for in the bayous of the Ohio 

 River. Where abundant, as in the Carolinas, it is of considerable value 

 for food. 



Genus 63. EUP0M0TI8. Gill and Jordan. 



Pomotia, sp., Cuv. et Val., Hist. Nat. des Poiss., iii, 1828, and of authors generally (not 



of Eafineeque, 1819 or 1820, Lepomis). 

 Evpomotis, Gill and Jordan, Field and Forent, 1876, p. — . 



Type, Sparua aureus, Walbaum, = Pomotis vulgaris, C. & V. = Perca giblosa, L. 



Etymology, eu, well ; porno, operole ; ous, ear. 



Dorsal fin much more developed than anal fin, the base of the former more than twice 

 that of the latter, the soft parts of the two fins about equal and terminating at the same 

 vertical behind ; dorsal spines 10, rather high ; anal spines 3 ; caudal fin emarginate ; 

 month small, with equal jaws ; maxillary without supplemental bone, not reaching to 

 orbit ; no palatine teeth ; gill rakers short, blunt and week, undifferentiated, destitute 

 of teeth ; lower pharyngeal bone broad, concave, with at least the middle teeth usually 

 conic : scales ctenoid ; opercular flap moderately developed, rounded ; colors brilliant 

 or rather plain ; all the known species have the opercular flap tipped with scarlet. Three 

 or four species of Eupomotis are now known, most of them of southern distribution. 

 Some of the species of Lepomis approach so closely to these, that the propriety of tl» 

 separation of the genus Eupomotis from Lepomis must be considered very doubtful. 



