CAHP-KISUIvS. 



753 



Gkms PHOXINUS. 



Scales vcni siiictll, af least alxitif SO in <( roir (iIdin/ tl/r sides of the hudi/ mid about :i(i in a transverse voir on 



each side of the trunk. Lateral line usualUi incomplete. Jaira e(iuaUij projecting. Lobes of the caudal fin blind 



(rounded). Jlase of the atial fin less than 19 % of the distance betn-een this fin and the tip of the snout. 



Tlie genus ot llu- Minnows, which \v,-is intrdduceil 

 into tiifi system liy AcAssiz", is well dctincil in the 

 Scandinnv ian fauiiM, not only b}' its small scales, hut 

 also 1>\' the elouijated and terete form of the body. 

 From Siberia, however, Wakpaiiiowski has described 

 some forms'' more closely a])pro.\inuited In- the deep 

 and latci-!ilh" com|)i'essed form of the l)odv to the other 

 Leuciscinte. In Southern Europe too, the limit between 

 this genus and the other genera of the subfamily is 

 difficult to maintain, forms of the geinis Leuciscns'' oc- 

 curring there, which have as many as 80 scales in the 

 lateral line, though, to judge by the descriptions, they 

 differ from I'ho.rinus in having at most 26 scales in a 

 transverse row. In North America the genus I'ho.rinus, 

 as defined by .TounAX and (tIlbert'', also contains spe- 

 cies with larger scales. A chi'omatic character fairly 

 constant in the Minnow, a more or less prominent, 

 dark strijic along the sides of the l)odv, and another 

 fairly characteristic peculiarity, the tumid form of the 



snout, reai)iiear in the Leuciseus (Telestes) midicellus 

 of Southern Europe, a form which also composes a re- 

 markable connecting-link between the genera of this 

 subfamily, and which lias sometimes borne the system- 

 atic name of the Minnow. Valknciexnks' and Gunthek'^ 

 have therefore found it advisable to unite the genus 

 I'ho.rinus with Lcuciscus. But it cannot be denied that 

 the Minnow is the most singular of all our Cijprinince, 

 or that it is well deserving of a distinct rank as a 

 connecting-link between the dark and small-scaled Tench 

 of the preceding subfamily and the following White- 

 tishes with their larger scales. 



The name of Phoxinus is derived from Akistotle, 

 who merely remarks, however, that the fish is a fresh- 

 water form, c"ipaV)le of re|iroduction at its very birth 

 and always full of roe. Following Belon and Rondelet, 

 ichthyologists have assumed that Akistotle here re- 

 ferred to the Jlinnow. 



" Mem. S(u-. Si-. Nat. Neucli.. tome I (1835), p. .'iT. 



'' Bull. Acad. St. Petersb., torn. XXXI (1887), p- •''33. 



' Lenciscus microlepis. Cf. C.^kestrini, Arch. Zool., .\niit., Fisiol., vol. IV (1866), p. 109. 



'' Bull. V. S. Nat. Mus., No. 16. p. 242. 



' Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. xyil, p. 363. 



■' Oat. Brit. Miis., Fish., vol. yil, p. 207 



