ICHTHYOBUS BUBALUS 215 



Icthijohiis ranchii Putnam, Bull. Mus. Copjp. Zool. 10, 1863. 



Jctliijobiis »-fl«c7iJi Jordan & Copklaxd, Cbeck List, 158, 187G. 



Idliyobus rauchii Joiidax & Gilueut, in Klippait's Rupt. 53, 1876. 



Ichthyohus rauchii Jordan, Mau. Vert. ed. 'id, 323, 1878. 

 ISo.'i — Icihi/obus sfoUei/i Agassiz, Am. Jouru. Sc. Arts, 2d series, xix, 196. 



Icthijohus siolleyi Jordan »fc Copeland, Check List, 158, 1876. 

 1877— Icthyobus ischijrus Nklson, MSS. — Jordan, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Pbila. 72. 



Icthyobns ixcliyrus Jordan & Copeland, Check List, 158, 1876. 



Icthyvbits inchyrus Jokdan & Gilbert, iu Klippart's Kept. 53, 1876. 



Ichthyohus ischyrtis Jordan, Man. Vert. ed. 2d, 323, 1878. 



ILvBiiAT. — Mississippi Valley ; ^^euerally abundant iu the larger streams. 



Au examiuation of a large series of wide-mouthed Buffalo fishes 

 from the Ohio, Wabash, Illinois, aud Mississippi Rivers has convinced 

 me, contrary to my previous impressions, that all belong to a single 

 species. It is not absolutely certain what Rafiuesque's Catostomus 

 bubalus was. It is perhaps as likely to have been a species of Buba 

 lichthys, as supposed by Dr. Kirtland, as an Ichthyobus. I however 

 follow Professor Agassiz in identifying it with the present species, 

 which is, at the Falls of the Ohio, where Katiuesque's collections were 

 made, probably the most abundant »f the Buffalo-fishes. Neither 

 Rafinesque nor Professor Agassiz has, however, recognizably described 

 the species. In my Manual of Vertebrates, in 1876, I gave a short 

 account ot Ichthyobus bubalus, dravfu from two large specimens taken iu 

 Wabash River at Lafayette. Besides these, I have numerous smaller 

 specimens, obtained in the Mississippi at Saint Louis. As these differed 

 in the greater compression of the body aud higher fins, I have identi- 

 fie<l them as belonging to Ichthyobus rauchii Agassiz, an identification 

 which I still think correct. In 1877, Mr. Nelson described an Ichthyobus, 

 ischyrus, irom Mackinaw Creek, a tributary of the Illinois River, near 

 Peoria. His typical specimen was very stout and deep, and at the time I 

 thought with him that it was j)robably distinct from /. bubalus. Lately I 

 have been enabled toreexaminethetypeof /. /sc/t^n/i- in the State Museum 

 of Illinois, and to compare it with a numerous series from the same 

 locality. I found it possible to establish an unbroken series among 

 them, connecting the nominal species which 1 had termed bubalus, 

 rauchii, and ischyrus, the difterences se[)arating them being, iu my opin- 

 ion, due either to differences of age or to individual peculiarities. At? 

 110 description of any importance has been published of /. stollcyi, J 

 include it as a synonym of I. bubalus. 1 know nothing whatever con- 

 cerning it. Ichthyobus cyane'lus Nelson, as below stated, is a species of 



