neiD Species of Fish. 301 



domen ; the eggs, being large, are comparatively but few in 

 number. 



It appears to me unquestionable that this species ought to 

 be placed in the genus Leuciscus. The singular position of 

 the mouth seems at first sight to render it so very unhke any 

 known species of the genus, that we can scarcely believe it 

 should be so referred. An examination of the anatomv of the 

 fish, however, apparently removes every difficulty. The struc- 

 ture of the abdominal organs, as already noticed, is in perfect 

 accordance with what we find in other species of the genus, 

 but a still more remarkable resemblance remains yet to be 

 mentioned ; it is in respect to the armature of the throat, the 

 inferior pharyngeal bones. These in Leuciscus are large, very 

 strong, curved, and furnished on their inner and posterior 

 edge with several stout, conic, bony processes which appear 

 like teeth, and are the only organs answering the purpose of 

 teeth with which the fish is provided. These bones are fur- 

 nished with several pairs of muscles. In order to afford at- 

 tachment for one of these, a pair which passing inward and 

 backwark is designed to bring the bones together, and cause 

 them to act one against the other, we find that the basilary 

 bone is prolonged, turns downward, and ends in a plate flat- 

 tened verticallv, to which the muscles are attached. This ba- 

 silary prolongation forms one of the most remarkable pecu- 

 liarities of the skull. Now all these characteristics are found 

 perfectly in the present species. The strong curved pharyn- 

 geals with their teeth, the muscles, the elongated bone with 

 its flattened plate for the insertion of these muscles, all occur 

 in perfect conformity with the structure of other species of 

 the genus. The formation of the mouth also, though exter- 

 nally so singular, is yet precisely similar to that of the well 

 known species of Leuciscus, The whole border of the upper 

 jaw is formed by the intermaxillaries, which are broad and 

 stout ; immediately behind these and closely applied to them 

 are the maxillaries, broad, and furnished with their own sepa- 

 rate muscles, but apparently capable of little motion inde- 

 pendent of that of the intermaxillaries. These bones in this 



