BUBALICHTHYS URUS. 209 



" Lateral line perfectly straij?bt from upper edffe of opercleto caudal. 

 " Scales, 8-35-5. Dorsal I. 25 ; A. I. 0. 

 "Color in spirits, (lull yellowish olive; fins dusky. 

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

 Illinois." 



51. BUBALICHTHYS UEUS Agassiz. 



Big-moutlied Buffalo. Blade Buffalo. Mongrel Buffalo. 



1818 — ?f Amhlodon nigcr Rafinesque, Journal de Physique Phila. 421. (Entirely ua- 

 recojfnizable.") 



? ? Catostomus niger Rafinesque, Icbth. Oh. TiG, 1820. (Unrecognizable ; more 

 likely Cycleptus elongatus.) 



BuMVukthijs niger Agassiz, Am. Jonrn. Sc. Arts, 2d series, xix, 195, 1855. 



Bubalkhthijs niger Jokdan, Fishes of Ind. 222, 1875. 



Buhalichthijs niger Joudan, Bnll. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Hist. 95, 187G. 



Buhalichthys nigcr Joudax, Man. Vert. 298, 1876. 



Bubal ichth/s niger Nelson, Bull. No. 1, Ills. Mus. Nat. Hist. 50, 1876. 



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



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



Bubalichthys nigcr JoitDAN & Gilbert, in Kiippart's Rept. 53, 1876. 



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



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

 1854 — Carpiodcs urus Agassiz, Am. Journ. Sc. Arts, 355. 



Bubalichthys urus Agassiz, Am. Journ. Sc. Arts, 2d series, xix, 193, 1855. 



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



Bubalichlhys ui-us Jordan, Fishes of lud. 222, 1875. 



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

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



Bubalichthys bonasus Jordan «fe Copeland, Check List, 158, 1876. 



Habitat. — Mississippi Valley, in the larger streams. 



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

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

 BubalichihyH hubalus and Ichthyohus biibalus. It may indeed be necessary 

 to unite these two genera on account of this species. 



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

 very diflicult one. Inasmuch as Rafinesque's C. niger was known to him 

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

 played several practictd 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 vmu be used only on the authority of 

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

 Bull. K M. No. 12—14 



