6i8 



TELEOSTEI 



Fam. 12. Amblyopsidae. — Mouth scarcely protractile, the 

 maxillaries excluded from the oral border ; teeth small, in jaws 

 and palate, and on the pharyngeal bones. Praecaudal vertebrae 

 with very strong parapophyses, bearing the ribs on their upper 

 surface ; epipleurals inserted on the ribs. Ventral fins rudi- 

 mentary or absent. Vent jugular, close to the gill -clefts. 

 Air-bladder present. 



Small ovoviviparous Fishes, closely related to, and evidently 

 derived from, the Cyprinodontids, measuring from 1 to 5 inches, 

 inhabiting ditches and small streams, or confined to subterranean 

 waters of limestone caves, in the United States east of the Eocky 

 Mountains. Six species, referable to three genera, are known. 



CTB-WHW '*« ."WlKMHiri 





Fig. 376. — A, Chologaster cornutus, and B, Amblyopsis spelaea, nat. size. 

 {After Jordan. ) 



In Chologaster, the eyes are well developed and the body is 

 coloured. G. co^-motus inhabits the lowland streams and swamps 

 of the South Atlantic States, from Virginia to Florida ; C. 

 agassizii is found in the underground streams of Kentucky and 

 Tennessee ; and 0. papilliferus occurs under stones in the springs 

 of south-western Illinois. Amhlyopsis and TijiMicMliys, which 

 are evidently derived from the former, or from forms closely 

 related to it, have the eyes rudimentary and more or less con- 

 cealed under the skin, and the body is colourless. AmUyofsis 

 spelaea is widely distributed in the caves east of the Mississippi, 



