168 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY III. 



blotches, wliicli are souietiines confluent into an irregular dusky baud. 

 Such little tislies usually have the lateral line iuji)erlect. 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 l)an(l. 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 "; of Minne- 

 sota, " Gophers "; of Wisconsin, "Badgers ''5 of Indiana, " Hoosiers"; of 

 Ohio, ''Buckeyes"; and of Missouri, "Pukes". 



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

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

 of Lacepede, as has long since been noticed by Valenciennes. 



Dr. Giinther quotes, in the synonymj' of Catuafomus teres, '■'■CyprinuH 

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

 unable to (iiid that he uses the name coinmersoni, or in lact any classical 

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

 claimed for a French name like '■^Cyprin commcrsonien^^ I am compelled 

 to fall back on iMitehill's very api)ropriate name teres for the species. 

 The identity of C. teres of ^Mitchill, C. comnmnis and C. hostoniensis of Le 

 Sueur, C. reticulutus oiliichiwd^ou, C.<)fraci^<«of Kirtlaud, and C.paUidim 

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

 by late writers. C niyrieans of Storer and Th()nii)son, Irom the Con- 

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

 the tiue jj/flfnca/j« of Le Sueur. It is ecjually evident that the species 

 called C. nureolus by Valenciennes and Giinther is the present t)ne and 

 not Myxosloma aureolum. Agassiz's Catostomus/ursterianus is doubtless 

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



• Tho I'ollowing is hav6\)h(le's description of bi.s *'ic Cyprin Commti-fionien" : — 

 "Ouze rftyons i\ lu dorsule; Imit a la uiiyeoire de I'amis; dix il cha»|Ue ventrale; 

 huit oil ncuf il cbaque i)ectoiale ; la nageoire du dos et celle do rami» qaadrilateres; 

 I'anal (jtroitc ; I'anKle de r»;xtrdniit<5 de cette dernicro nageoiro trcs aigu ; la raudale 

 eu croi8«aut; la ligiio lat6rale droite; la luacboire supdrieure jduH avamci- qiu" celle 

 d'en has; les dcaiiles arrondies et tria petitcs. 



"Lo eoniniersonicii, dout iions publioim les premiers la description, et c|iio le savant 

 Coiumersoii a observt'', prdsento uu donble oritice ponr cluujue narine ; sa tfite est denude 

 do pctites dcailles; ses ventralea et ses i)ectorale8 sout arrondies a Itiir extivmitd; la 

 dorsale s'dli^vo vers le luiliMi de la longueur totalo de la poiswin." 



