DESCRIPTIONS OP PIVE NEW SPECIES OF FISHES SENT BY PROF. 

 A. DUGES FROM THE PROVINCE OF GUANAJUATO, MEXICO. 



Br TAKLETOi'V II. BEAIV, Ciirnior, Dfpai'tiiirnt of Fis^lics, U. S. IVational 



IM118CU111. 



(With one plate.) 



It is probable that the species described iu this paper are from streams 

 belouging to the Pacific slope of the Province of Guanajuato ; the Lam- 

 j)t'tra certainly is, and it is the most sontlunly representative of the 

 genus recorded. A recent examination of the types of Goodea atripmnis 

 Jordan, proves the existence of villiform teeth behind the incisors, and 

 throws Goodea into the syuonj'my of Characodon. 



Characodon vaiiatus, n. sp. (PL XX, f. 1.) 



This species resend)les C. lateralis Gthr., from which it differs chiefly 

 in its larger number of dorsal rays, and in the more advanced position, 

 of the dorsal lin, as well as in the size of the ventral. 



The types are numbered 37809. 



In form the species resembles C. lateralis as Qgured in Trans. Zool. 

 Soc, Lond., VI, 1809, pi. LXXXII, fig, 2. The head is broad and de- 

 pressed; the nape moderately arched. The snout is short; the lower 

 jaw strongly projecting; the jaws are much heavier than in C. atripiii- 

 nis {Goodea atripinnis Jordan)^ and the villiform teeth behind the incis- 

 ors are much more develoi)ed than in C. atripinnis. The caudal 

 l)eduncle (that is, the distance from the end of the dorsal to the origin 

 of the caudal) is nearly as long as the head, equaling one-fourth of the 

 total length without the caudal. 



There are about thirteen or fourteen bicuspid teeth in the outer series 

 of the upper jaw and from sixteen to eighteen in the lower jaw. The 

 band of villiform teeth behind the incisors is fully developed in both 

 jaws. The mandible does not extend back to the anterior margin of 

 the orbit ; its length is about equal to that of the orbit. The jaws are 

 moderately protractile. The mandible when the mouth is closed is 

 almost vertically placed. The snout is shorter than the eye whose 

 diameter is two-sevenths of the length of the head and about two-thirds 

 of the width of the interorbital space. The interorbital space is as 

 long as the opercle and one-half the length of the head without the 

 snout. 



Scales on the top of the head little enlarged. Opercle united by mem- 

 brane to the shoulder girdle, beginning slightly above the npper edge 

 of the pectoral. The insertion of the dorsal is about midway between 

 the end of tlie scales and the hind margin of the orbit. The first dorsal 

 ray is very slender, articulated, and about two-thirds as long as the 

 second; the second is simple like the first, and is shorter than the third;, 



370 



