BUBALICHTHYS URUS. 209 



" Lateral line perfectly straight from upper edpje of opercleto caudal. 

 " Scales, 8-35-5. Dorsal I. 25 ; A. I. 9. 

 "Color iu spirits, dull yellowisli olive; fins dusky. 

 " Type specimen 12 inches long, iu Ills. State Museum, from Cairo, 

 Illinois." 



51. BUBALICHTHYS URUS Agassiz. 



Big-moutlied Buffalo. Black Buffalo. Mongrel Buffalo. 



1818— f? Amblodon niger Rafinesqiie, Journal de Physique Phila. 421. (Entirely un- 

 recognizable.") 



?? Catostomus niger Rafinesque, IcLth. Oh. 5G, 1820. (Unrecognizable; more 

 likely Cycleptus elongatus.) 



Buhalichtliys vigcr Agassiz, Am. Journ. Sc. Arts, 2d series, xix, 195, 1855. 



Buhalichthgs niger Jordan, Fishes of Ind. 222, 1875. 



BuhaUehtltys niger Johdan, Bull. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Hist. 95, 1870. 



Buhalichthgs niger Jordan, Man. Vert. 298, 1876. 



Buhalichthns niger Nelson, Bull. No. 1, Ills. Mus. Nat. Hist. 50, 1876. 



Bubalicliihys niger Jordan & Copeland, Check List, 158, 1876. 



Buhalichthgs niger Jordan, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phila. 75, 1877. 



BubaUclithiis tiiger Jordan & Gilbert, iu Klippart's Rept. 53, 1876. 



BuhaUchthys niger Jordan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix, 34, 1877. 



Buhalichthys niger Jordan, Man. Vert, ed, 2d, 323. 

 1854 — Carpiodes urus Agassiz, Am. Journ. Ss. Arts, 355. 



Bubalicliihys nrus Agassiz, Am. Journ. Sc. Arts, 2d ser'es, xix, 193, 1855. 



Bubalichthys nrus Putnam, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 10, 1863. 



Bubalichthys urus Jordan, Fishes of Ind. 222, 1875. 



Bubalichthys urus .Jordan & Copeland, Check List, 158, 1876. 

 1855 — Bubalichthys bonasus Agassiz, Am. Journ. Sc. Arts, 2d sexier, xix, 195. 



Bubalichthys bonasus Jordan & Copeland, Check List, 158, 1876. 



Habitat. — Mississippi Valley, iu the larger streams. 



This is an abundant species iu the Mississippi and its larger tributa- 

 ries. It is very distinct from the preceding, almost intermediate between 

 Buhalichlhys buhalus and Ichthyohus hubalus. It may indeed be necessary 

 to unite these two genera on account of this species. 



The question of the name which should be borne by this species is a 

 very difiScult one. Inasmuch as Rafinesque's G. niger was known to him 

 only through the accounts of Mr. Audubon, a gentleman known to have 

 played several practical jokes on the too credulous naturalist, and to 

 have led him thereby to describe and name several impossible animals, 

 and inasmuch as no real description whatever is given by Rafinesque, 

 it seems to me that the name niger can be used only on the authority of 

 Agassiz, and not on that of Rafinesque. That being the case, the name 

 Bull. N. M. No. 12—14 



