SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 175 



over ventrals, dorsal rays ni,10 to iv,ll, the soft rays much longer than the longest (3rd) spine; 

 anal rays ii,5 or 6. Color: dark brown or dark olive, sometimes with numerous dark specks 

 forming longitudinal rows along scales; 2 black transverse bars at base of caudal with a light 

 area between them, {say anus, after Thomas Say, an American naturalist.) 



The pirate perch inhabits sluggish waters, from New York to Texas and 

 throughout the Mississippi valley. Its maximum length is 5 inches. It is 

 reported to be voracious, and to feed chiefly at night. In North Carolina it is 

 known from various streams. Jordan reported it as rather scarce in Tar River 

 near Rocky Mount, and not rare in Little River at Goldsboro, and Cope found it 

 abundant in tributaries of the Neuse in Wake County. The National Museum 

 contains specimens collected in a pond at Wilmington in 1899 by Mr. W. P. Seal. 

 The writer collected but one specimen in Albemarle Sound and tributaries, this 

 being an example 2.5 inches long, of a rich brown color, taken in the Roanoke 

 near Plymouth; depth .28 length, head .33 length; eye 4.25 in head; dorsal rays 

 111,11; anal rays n,5; scales in lateral line 51; outer parts of dorsal and caudal fins 

 white, inner parts reddish purple; pectorals and anal faintly spotted with purple. 

 Mr. C. S. Brimley reports the species as not uncommon in Lake Ellis, Craven 

 County. 



Family ATHERINID^. The Silversides. 



Elongate, shapely fishes, with a silvery lateral stripe, most of them of small 

 size, inhabiting fresh or salt waters in temperate or tropical latitudes. They 

 usually go in large schools, and in some regions are among the most abundant of 

 fishes. ' The body is more or less compressed, without lateral line, and is covered 

 with regularly arranged scales, of moderate or small size and usually cycloid. 

 The mouth is terminal, rather small and weak; the premaxillaries are protractile 

 in most of the genera; the jaws and vomerine teeth, if present, are small. The 

 branchial aperatures are wide; the gill-membranes not connected and free from 

 the isthrgus; the gill-arches 4 in number; the opercular bones without spines. 

 A thin-walled air-bladder is present. There are 2 dorsal fins entirely disconnected ; 

 the anterior, placed in about the middle of the back, has a few (3 to 8) very 

 slender, feeble spines, united by a delicate membrane; the posterior contains 

 soft rays, which are more numerous than the spines. The anal fin contains one 

 spine and rather numerous soft rays, and is usually larger than the second dorsal. 

 The caudal fin is usually deeply forked; the ventrals are small, placed anterior to 

 the first dorsal, and consist of one spine and 5 soft rays; the pectorals are of mod- 

 erate size and inserted rather high. The flesh is firm, white, and palatable; and 

 some of the species are important food fishes. Of the 10 or more North American 

 genera only the following 2 are represented on the Atlantic coast north of Florida. 



i. Scales cycloid; dorsal and anal fins for the most part scaleless Menidia. 



ii. Scales laciniate; dorsal and anal fins with large scales Kirtlandia. 



Genus MENIDIA Bonaparte. Silversides. 

 Small American fishes, most of them inhabiting salt or brackish water; body 

 elongate, compressed, belly rounded; head compressed; mouth small, oblique. 



