982 FISHES — SCIiENID^. 



teeth on vomer, palatiaes, pterygoids, or tongue; maxillary without supplemental bone, 

 slipping under the free edge of the preorbital; premaxillaries protractile, but not very 

 freely movable ; nostrils double ; pseudobranohiae usually large, present in all our 

 genera; gills 4, a slit behind the fourth; gill-rakers present; branohioategals 7; gill- 

 membranes separate, free from the isthmus; lower pharyngeals separate or united; 

 preoperole serrate or not ; operole usually ending in two flat points ; dorsal fin deeply 

 notched, or divided into two fins, the soft dorsal being the longer, the spines depressible 

 into a more or less perfect groove; anal fin with one or two spines ; ventral fins thoracic, 

 1, 5 ; pectoral fins normal ; caudal fins usually not forked ; eat bones very large ; pyloric 

 ooBca usually rather few ; air-bladder usually large and complicated (wanting in Menti- 

 drrus); most of the species make a peculiar noise, called variously croaking, grunting, 

 ^nmiuing, and snoring ; this sound is supposed to be caused by forcing the air from the 

 air-bladder into one of the lateral horns; carnivorous; an important family of about 

 25 genera and 135 species, found in alTwarm seas, one species being confined to fresh 

 waters; many of them reach a large size, and nearly all are valued for food. 



Gbnus 83. HAPLOIDONOrUS. Eafinesque. 



Aphdinotus, Rafinesqub, Journal de Physique, de Chemie et D'histoire Naturelle, 1819, 



418. 

 Amhlodon, Kapinbsquk, Journal de Physique, 1819, 431 (based on the pharyngeal teeth 



of A grunniens, erroneously ascribed to lohthyohus bubalus). 

 Haploidonotua, Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1861, 103 (corrected orthography). 

 EutyoheUthus, Jordan, Man. Vert. E. U. S,, 1st Ed., 1876, 242. 



Type, Aplodinotus grunniens, Rapinesque. 



Etymology, haploia, a simple cloak to fit the body ; notos, the back, in allusion to the 

 scaly coating of the base of the second dorsaL supposed by Rafinesque to distinguish 

 this genua from Soiwna. 



Body oblong, the snout blunt, the back elevated, and compressed ; mouth rather 

 small, low, hoiizontal, the lower jaw included; teeth in villifurm bands, the outer 

 scarcely enlarged ; no barbels ; pseudobranohiae rather small ; gill-rakers short and 

 blunt; lower pharyngeals very large, fully united, with coarse, blunt, paved teeth; 

 preoperole slightly serrate ; dorsal spines strong and high, with a close fitting sheath 

 at base, the two dorsals somewhat connected; second anal spine very strong; caudal 

 double truncate ; chin with five pores. But one species of this genus is certainly 

 known. It has a wide distribution in the fresh waters of the United States. 



156. Haploidonotus grunniens Rafinesque. 



Sheeps-head;, Thnnder-pnmper ; Drum; Bubbler; Crrunting: 

 Perch; White Percb: Croaker. 



Aplodinotna grunniens, Rafinesque, Journal de Physique, Vol. 88, 1819, 418. 



Amblodon grunniens, Rafinesque, Ich. Oh., 1820, 24. — Agassiz, Amer. Journ. Sol. Arts, 



1854.— GiRARD, Pac. R. R. Expl. and Surv,, x, 1854, 96. 

 Haploidonotus grunniens, Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1861, 104. — Jordan, Man. 



Vert., 1676 ; Man. Vert., 2d Ed., 1878, 

 Sciana oscula, Le Sueur, Journ. Acad. Nat Sci. Phila., 1822, 252. — Kirtland, Rept. Zool. 



Ohio, 1838, 168, 192. 



