494 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Sept., 



confines itself to the smaller creeks and rivulets of clear water which 

 are fed by the perennial springs of the densely wooded foothills and 

 jungles of the ' Tierra Caliente.' Such conditions necessarily 

 develop these tributary streams of the foothills into isolated fish 

 faunas of the most restricted local character, as it is practically 

 impossible for the majority of those fish which thrive here in such 

 great profusion to live in the turbid and rushing waters of the main 

 river, which, under more pacific conditions, would be a means of 

 intercourse rather than a barrier. For this reason we may expect 

 to find the most varied and puzzling faunal conditions in the ich- 

 thyology of the west Andean foothills when systematic collections have 

 been made. As yet there is a vast area of this character in Colombia 

 and Ecuador which has been almost untouched by the scientific 

 collector of fishes. All the fish described in this paper, with one or 

 two exceptions, were dynamited by railroad men in the larger pools 

 of clear-water streams flowing into the Chimbo River, about 2 miles 

 from Bucay. These streams are for the most part deeply shaded 

 by forests and enclosed by high and rocky banks, their sandy or 

 gravelly beds much strewn by boulders and in many places their quiet 

 reaches are broken by shallow rapids, as in our larger trout streams 

 of the Alleghany Mountains. Some of a larger species of Characid 

 than any here described, weighing about 2 to 2| pounds, were secured 

 with the others, but considered by their captors too valuable as food 

 to be pickled in the interests of science! The flesh of these was 

 good, but the bones too omnipresent for comfort." 



CHARACID^]. 



PROCHILODIN.E. 

 Prochilodus stigmaturus sp. nov. Fig. 1. 



Head 3f; depth 3i; D. in, 9; A. m, 7; P. i, 13; V. i, 8; scales 

 in 1. 1. 38 to caudal base, and 3 more on latter; 9 scales above 1. 1. 

 to dorsal origin; 6 scales below 1. 1. to ventral origin; 6 scales below 

 1. 1. to anal origin; 17 predorsal scales; head width ly^ its length; 

 head depth at occiput If; snout 3; eye 4f ; maxillary 4f ; mouth 

 width 4§; interorbital 2|; second branched dorsal ray If; first 

 branched anal ray l T \; least depth of caudal peduncle 2 T V; lower 

 caudal lobe If; pectoral 1|; ventral If. 



Body elongate, compressed, contour fusiform, and deepest at 

 dorsal origin. Upper profile convex, bulging slightly more ante- 

 riorly, though back not elevated conspicuously. Lower profile 

 rather more evenly convex. Edges of body all evenly convex, 

 without keels. Caudal peduncle compressed, moderate, length 

 about | of least depth. 



Head small, compressed, sides flattened and not constricted above 

 or below, though both of latter surfaces evenly convex. Profiles 



