Body elongate sub-cylindrical, compressed behind; snout short and
rounded. Jaws with an outer series of closely-set pointed teeth, and
with a band of small teeth, similar teeth on the vomer, palatine,
and pterygoid bones. Long dorsal, short anal, and rounded nonfurcate
caudal fin. Ventrals well developed. A single large gular plate;
branchiostegal rays ten to twelve.
Amia (Protamia) uintaensis, Leidy.
Cont. to Ext. Vert. Fauna, p. 185.
A species of large mud-fishes related to the modern _Amia calva_. The
vertebræ are all much wider than they are high. The articular cones
have their bottoms considerably above the centre, and are minutely
perforate for the notochord. The centrum is transversely curved
from side to side, and has the convexity directed forwards; it is
truncate below, making the infero-lateral angles quite prominent in
the anterior dorsal region; in the posterior there are two fossæ.
The diapophyses are large, but almost sessile, and take their origin
above the centre, on the same line as the bottom of the articular
cone. The facets for the neurapophyses are in the form of the figure
8; their internal borders are prominent. The atlas has a broad oval
centrum, which is not truncate below, and has no markings of any
kind on the under surface. The articular faces for the neurapophyses
are prominent, and approach near together. The depression for the
occipital condyle is small, circular, and situated above the centre.
From Henry's Fork.
_Amia depressa_ (?), Marsh.