FISHES-PERCIDAE—POMOTIS SPECIOSUS. 
23 
but do not reach the anterior margin of the anal. Extremities of pectorals nearly even with the tips of ventrals. Greenish 
brown above, yellowish beneath ; sides of head with blue and yellow lines. Fins unicolor, vertical ones greenish olive, the 
others yellowish. 
Syr.— Pomotis vulgaris, Richards. Faun. Bor. Amer. Ill, 1836, 24; pi. lxxvi.— Agass. Lake Super. 1850, 293. 
Pomotis luna, Grd. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. November, 1857. 
Northern Sunfish, Vernacular. 
The head constitutes about the fourth of the total length, and the diameter of the eye, which 
is circular, enters a little over four times in the length of the side of the head. The lower jaw 
projects somewhat beyond the upper, the gape of the mouth being directed obliquely upwards. 
A vertical line drawn from the origin of the dorsal fin would intersect the middle of the base of 
the pectorals, and fall considerably in advance of the origin of the ventral fins. 
Such are the principal traits characteristic of the present species ; a more elaborate description 
of which is given by Sir John Richardson, in the work above referred to. When we come to 
write the Monograph of this genus a better opportunity will be afforded for comparing it to P. 
vulgaris, properly so to be called, and which, so far, appears to be more closely allied to it than 
any other of its congeners. 
The coloration, as preserved upon the specimens immersed in alcohol, has considerably faded 
away. The sides of the head have lost the blue and yellow lines so well represented in the 
Fauna boreali americana ; even the opercular flap is of a uniform black. 
References to the figures. —Plate VIII, fig. 1, represents Pomotis luna, somewhat reduced in 
size. Figure 2, is a scale from the dorsal region. Fig. 3, a scale from the lateral line. Fig. 
4, a scale from the abdominal region. The pectinations of the scales having been removed with 
the epidermis. 
List of specimens. 
Catalogue number. 
No. of specimen. 
Sex and age. 
Locality. 
When collected. 
Whence obtained. 
Nature of specimen. 
Collected by— 
480 
1 
Adult. 
Fort Snelling, Minn. 
1852 
Gov. I. I. Stevens_ 
Alcoholic___ 
Dr. George Suckley. 
2. POMOTIS SPECIOSUS, B. & G-. 
Tlie Southern Sunlisli. 
Plate YIII, Figs. 5 — 8. 
Spec. Char. —Body sub-elliptical in profile ; head small, snout bluntly sub-conical; mouth small; posterior extremity of 
maxillary extending to the anterior rim of the orbit; inferior edge of preorbital bone, and limb of preopercle finely serrated, 
opercular flap small; spinous portion of dorsal fin elevated ; anal spines well developed; caudal emarginated. Reddish 
brown, lighter beneath, young transversally banded ; fins greyish or yellowish ; a black patch upon the dorsal. 
Syn.— Pomotis speciosus, B. & G. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VII, 1854, 24. 
This species is described and figured in the Report of the United States and Mexican 
Boundary Survey, by whom it was first collected. The species is allied to P. incisor, Cuv. & 
Val. Hist. nat. des Poiss. VII, 1831, 467, from which it, however, differs by a larger eye, a 
