Percoidea, or Perch-like Fishes 301 
aquarium fish is the black-banded sunfish, Mesogonistius cheto- 
don, of the Delaware, as also the nine-spined sunfish, Enneacan- 
thus glortosus, of the coast streams southward. Apomotis cyanel- 
lus, the blue-green sunfish or little redeye, is very widely dis- 
tributed from Ohio westward, living in every brook. The dis- 
section of this species is givenon page 26, Vol. I. To Lepomis 
belong numerous species having the opercle prolonged in a long 
flap which is always black in color, often with a border of scarlet 
or blue. The yellowbelly of the South (Lepomis auritus), ear-like 
the showily colored long-eared sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) of the 
Fic. 237.—Common Sunfish, Eupomotis gibbosus (Linneus). Root River, Wis. 
southwest, figured on page 2, Vol. I, the bluegill (Lepomis palli- 
dus), abundant everywhere south and west of New York, are 
members of this genus. The genus Eupomotis differs in its larger 
pharyngeals, which are armed with blunt teeth. The common 
sunfish, or pumpkinseed, Eupomotis gibbosus, is the most familiar 
representative of the family, abounding everywhere from Min- 
nesota to New England, then south to Carolina on the east slope 
of the Alleghanies, breeding everywhere in ponds and in the 
eddies of the clear brooks. 
The Black Bass.—The black bass (Micropterus) belong to the 
same family as the sunfish, differing in the larger size, more 
elongate form, and more voracious habit. The two species are 
