ICHTHYOLOGY OF VENEZUELA — SCHULTZ 7 



Caribbean Sea (coastal streams) — Continued 

 Golfo de Paria — Continued 



Orinoco Delta — Continued 

 Rfo Orinoco — Continued 

 Rio Manapire 

 Rfo Apure 



Rio Gudrico 

 Rfo Portuguesa 

 Rfo Guanare 

 Rfo Chirgua 

 Rfo Pao 



Lago de Valencia ^ 

 Rio Cojedes 

 Rfo Uribante 

 Rfo Frfo 



Rfo Torbes 



During the preparation of a working distributional chart or table 

 of the form published by Eigenmann,* I came to the conclusion, after 

 several days of labor, that such a chart, instead of giving a clear picture 

 of the actual distributional relationships of the fish fauna for the 

 various basins, instead presents a picture of the amount of collecting 

 that has been done in these various basins, and the care mth which 

 the material was studied or reported upon. For instance, Eigenmann's 

 report on the fresh-water fishes of British Guiana has a large number 

 of new species, many based on a single specimen. There is no com- 

 parable work on the fauna of the Orinoco system or even the Amazon. 

 Thus in such charts the Guianas appear to have a fauna greatly in 

 excess of that of the Orinoco, because the fishes of the latter great 

 river system have never been thoroughly investigated. The Orinoco 

 system, with its direct connection through the Kio Negro with 

 the Amazon, should have a fauna more extensive than that of the 

 Guianas. Therefore, I concluded to confine my remarks on dis- 

 tributional relationships between drainage basins to general state- 

 ments, awaiting the time when these faunas are better known. 



The fresh-water fish fauna of the Maracaibo Basin is distinctive as 

 to its species, since nearly every one except those living in river 

 mouths is a little different structurally from those in adjoining basins 

 and may be subspecificaUy distinct. When taken as a whole it appears 

 that this fauna is almost as closely related to that of the Orinoco as 

 to that of the Magdalena, especially those species inhabiting the upper 

 courses of the rivers. The lowland species of the Maracaibo Basin 

 appear to be very similar to those of the Magdalena, and some are the 

 same species. Undoubtedly during the mountain building around the 



3 Lago de Valencia is said to have been much larger at one time and to have had an outlet to the Orinoco 

 system through the Rio Pao. 



* Indiana Univ. Studies, vol. 7, No. 45, 1920; ibid., No. 47, 1920; Eigenmann and Allen, Fishes of western 

 South America, pp. 53-61, 1942. 



