168 CONTEIDUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY III. 



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blotches, which are sometimes couflueut into au irieguhir dtisky baud. 

 Such little fishes usually have the lateral line iui[)ertect. On such, the 

 nominal species Moxostoma irisignatum was based. 



The male fishes in the spring show a more or less distinct pinkish or 

 rosy lateral band. The males and females ascend the small streams in 

 the spring for the purpose of depositing their spawn. The coincidence 

 of their times of migration with that of some of the early settlers of Illi- 

 nois, who used to come up from New Orleans in the spring, returning 

 in the fall, has given to the natives of that State the slang name of 

 " Suckers", as natives of Michigan were called " Wolverenes "j of Minne- 

 sota, "Gophers"j of Wisconsin, "Badgers"; of Indiana, "Hoosiers"; of 

 Ohio, "Buckeyes"; and of Mjssouri, "Pukes". 



I have elsewhere adopted the name ^' commersoni" for this species, 

 inasmuch as there is little doubt that it is the ^'•Cyprin commersonien'^'' * 

 6f Lacepede, as has long since been noticed by Valenciennes. 



Dr. Giinther quotes, in the synonymy of Catostomus teres, '•'■Cyprinus 

 commersonnii Lacepede"; but, on examination of Lacepede's work, I am 

 unable to find that he uses the name commersoni, or in fact any classical 

 name whatever for the species, and as priority of date can hardly be 

 claimed for a French name like '■'•Gyprin commersonien^\ I am compelled 

 to fall back on Mitchill's very appropriate name teres for the species. 

 The identity of C. teres of Mitchill, C. communis and C. bostoniensis of Le 

 Sueur, C. reticulatus otEichardson, C. gracilis of Kirtland, and G.pallidus 

 of DeKay has been long since shown, and has been generally admitted 

 by late writers. 0. nigricans of Storer and Thompson, from the Con- 

 necticut, is evidently the dusky brook form of this species, and not 

 the ti ue nigricans of Le Sueur. It is equally evident that the species 

 called C. aureolus by Valenciennes and Giinther is the present one and 

 not Myxostoma aureolum. Agassiz's Catostomus forsterianus\&^o\x\i\\e^& 

 the common lake form of C. teres, as indicated by J3r. Giinther. The 



* The following is Lac^p^de's description of his "ie Cyprin Commersonieii" : — 

 "Ouze rayons a la dorsale; huit a la ntgeoire de I'auiis; dix a chatjue ventrale; 

 huit on ntuf a chaque pectorale ; la uageoire du dos et celle de I'auus quadrilateres ; 

 I'anal dtroite ; 1' angle de I'extr6niit6 de cette derni&re nageoire tres aigu; la caudale 

 en croissant; la ligue laterale droite; la niachoire supdrieure plus avanc^e que celle 

 d'en bas; les 6cailles arrondies et ties petites. 



"Le commersouien, dout nous publions les premiers la description, et que le savant 

 Coramerson a observ<5, pr^sente un double orifice pour chaque nariue ; sa tete est denude 

 de petites dcailles ; scs veutrales et ses pectorales sont arrondies a leur extr6iuit6 ; la 

 dorsale s'^l^ve vers le milieu de la longueur totale de la poisson." 



