AMIIDÆ.
"Scales cycloid; a long, soft dorsal fin. Abdominal and caudal parts of the vertebral column subequal in extent." (Günther.)
AMIA.
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.
Pr. Ac. Nat. Sc. 1871, p. 103