-54: CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY - IV. 



113. CYPRINUS Linuspiis. 



Carps. 



(Artoili ; Linu;rus. Syst. N:ii.: type Cyprinus carpio L.) 



I'.ody robust, compressed, resembling that of the Buffalo-fish. Mouth 

 moderate, anterior, with four long barbels. Snout blunt, rounded. 

 Teeth molar, broad and truncate, 1, 1, 3-3, 1, 1. Scales large. Lateral 

 line continuous. Dorsal fin very long, with a stout spine, serrated 







behind; anal tin short, also with a spine. Large fishes of the fresh 

 waters of Asia ; introduced into Europe and America as food-fishes. 

 </?, the ancient name of the Carp.) 



C. carpio L. <.'<iri>. 



Body stout, more or less compressed, heavy anteriorly. General 

 color olivaceous. 1). Ill, 20; A. Ill, 5; scales 5-38-5; teeth 1, I, 3-3, 

 1, 1. L. IS inches or more. Fresh waters of Central Asia; introduced 

 as a food-fish into Europe and America. In domestication it has run 

 into many varieties, distinguished by differences in form, squamatiou, 

 and development of the fins. 



(Liiiiii'-u-s Syst. Nat.; Giinther, vii, 2f>.) 



FAMILY XXXII. CHARACINID^E. 



(The Cltarttcinx.) 



Body variously formed, covered with cycloid scales. Head naked. 

 Margin of upper jaw formed mesially by the premaxillaries and later- 

 ally by the maxillaries; no barbels; premaxillaries not protractile. 

 Teeth various, often incisor-like, often wanting. I'.ranchiostegals usu- 

 ally ".. (lill-membranes united to the isthmus or not. No pseudo- 

 branchhe. dills I, a slit behind the fourth. Lower pharyngeals not 

 truly falciform, but more or less curved, armed with small, sometimes 

 villiibrm, teeth. Adipose lin usually present (absent in Erythriniiur). 

 Pylorie cu-ca usually numerous. . \ir-bladder transversely divided into 

 two portions, and communicating with the organ of hearing by means 

 of auditory ossicles, as in the Ciipriiiitltr. Anterior vertebra; coalesced 

 and modified. A very large family of (iO genera and 300 species, inhab- 

 iting the fresh waters of South America and Africa, where they take 



