254 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 
113.— CYPRII¥US Liuurous. 
* 
Carps. 
(Artedi ; Liiiniuus, Syst. Niit. ; typo Cuprimis carpio L.) 
Body robust, compressed, resembling that of the Buifalo-fish. Mouth 
moderate, anterior, with four long barbels. kSnout blunt, rounded. 
Teeth molar, broad and truncate, 1, 1, 3-:3, 1, 1. Scales large. Lateral 
line continuous. Dorsal tin very long, with a stout spine, serrated 
behind; anal fm short, also with a spine. Large tishes of the fresh 
waters of Asia; introduced into Europe and America as food-lishes. 
{xuTzpiva?, the ancient name of the Carp.) 
428. C. csirpio L. — Carp. 
Body stont, more or less compressed, heav}' anteriorly. General 
color olivaceous. D. Ill, 20; A. Ill, 5; scales 5-38-5; teeth I, I, 3-3, 
1, 1. L. IS inches or more. Fresh waters of Central Asia ; introduced 
as a food-fish into Europe and America. In domestication it has run 
into many varieties, distinguished by differences in form, squamation, 
and development of the fins. 
(Liuuaeus, Syst. Nat.; Glintlier, vii, 25.) 
Family XXXII.— CHARACINID^. 
{The Gharacins.) 
Body variously formed, covered with cycloid scales. Head naked. 
Margin of upper jaw formed mesial ly by the premaxillaries and later- 
ally by the maxillaries ; no barbels ; premaxillaries not protractile. 
Teeth various, often incisor-like, often wanting. Branchiostegals usu- 
ally 3. Gill-membranes united to the isthmus or not. No pseudo- 
branchiaj. Gills 4, a slit behind the fourth. Lower pharyngeals not 
truly falciform, but more or less curved, armed Avith small, sometimes 
villiform, teeth. Adipose fin usually present (absent in Erxjtliriniiuv). 
Pyloric cteca usually numerous. Air-bladder transversely divided into 
two portions, and communicating with the organ of hearing by means 
of auditory ossicles, as in the Cyprinida'. Anterior vertebrm coalesced 
and modified. A very large family of 60 genera and 300 species, inhab- 
iting the fresh waters of South America and Africa, where they take 
