254 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 



113.— CYPBIIVUS Liuuseus. 

 Carps. 



(Artedi ; Lmnteus, Syst. Nat.: type Ci/prinus carpio L.) 



Body robust, compre.ssed, resembling that of the Buffalo-fish. Mouth 



moderate, anterior, with four long barbels. Snout blunt, rounded. 



Teeth molar, broad and truncate, 1, 1, 3-3, 1, 1. Scales large. Lateral 



line continuous. Dorsal fin very long, with a stout spine, serrated 



behind; anal fin short, also with a spine. Large fishes of the fresh 



waters of Asia: introduced into Europe and America as food-fishes. 



(xuTTfHxi^, the ancient name of the Carp.) 

 I 



42§. C. carpio L. — Carj). 



Body stout, more or less compressed, heavy anteriorly. General 

 color olivaceous. D. Ill, 20; A. Ill, 5; scales 5-38-5; teeth 1, I, 3-3, 

 1, 1. L. 18 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. 



(Liumeiis, Syst. Nat.; Giinther, vii, 25.) 



Family XXXII.— CHARACINID^. 



{The Gharacins.) 



Body variously formed, covered with cycloid scales. Head naked. 

 Margin of upper jaw formed mesially 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- 

 brauchiiB. Gills 4, a slit behind the fourth. Lower x^haryngeals not 

 truly falciform, but more or less curved, armed with small, sometiuies 

 villiform, teeth. Adipose tin usually present (absent in Erythrinincc). 

 Pyloric cuica usually numerous. Air-bladder transversely divided into 

 two portions, and communicating with the organ of hearing by means 

 of auditory ossicles, as in the Cyprinidw. Anterior vertebrae 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 



