778 



SCANniNAVIAN FISHES. 



Gem s SCARDINIUS. 



Sidles middle-sized. J.ntrral line complete. Loni-r jaic slii/litlij projectinf). Caudal lohes pointed. Loii/th of 

 the base of the aind fin more than 19 % of the distance between this fin and the tip of the snout. Distance 

 Itef/reen thi- dorsal fin and tin- li/i of the snout h'ss tluui Sfi % of tlud betircen the an>d fin and the same point. 



Ill tliis genus we dr.-nv still nearer to the Ahra- 

 niidines, a circunistaiiee most clearly shown by the 

 elongation of the base of the anal tin, as remarked in 

 the above diagnosis. In all our specimens of the pre- 

 ceding Leuciscines the base of the anal tin measured 

 less than '/„ of the length of tiie body; henceforward 

 it is always at least somewhat longer, except where 

 cross-breeding impairs the natural form of the species. 

 When BiiXAPAHTiv first established this genus (merely 

 as a subgenus of Leuciscus"), adopting its title from the 

 Italian name {Scaidola or Seardintt) of a species iden- 

 tified by (Janesthini with the Rudd'', he laid most 

 stress on the deep form of the l)ody, the position of 

 the dor.sal fiu over the space? between the ventral and 



anal tins, and the cariiiation of the ventral margin 

 between the last-mentioned tins, characters all of which 

 we have seen indicated in the Roach. When Heckel 

 at a later period reformed the generic classitication ot 

 the Cyprinoids, he characterized the genus Scardinius' 

 chiefly by the pectination of tlie phaiyngeal teeth as 

 in the RIeaks; but we have also seen traces of this 

 character in the Roach. The genus, as we understand 

 it from our knowledge of a single species'*, comes so 

 near Leueisras that it can claim systematic recogni- 

 tion onlv as a remarkable stage of transition, in the 

 external form to Ahramis. and in the ol)liiiue 

 mouth and the ]>ectinated pliaryngeal teeth To Al- 

 burn us. 



" Iconoijr. Fii. Itat., P'gci. in lln^ ilosL-riiitiun of Leiiciscun Si/iialus. 



'' To judge by tlie measLirements given liy Canestrini (Arcli. Zool., Anat., Fisiol., vol. IV, p. 89) of tlio Italinn scardola, these spe- 

 cies seem, however, to be distinct. 



' Russeggers Reise, II Th., p. 10:!7. 



'' All the five species established by Bonaparte and Heckel, which would otherwise belong to this genns, are combined into one spe- 

 cies by Canestrini and Fatio; but it is qnite possible that hybrid forms are thus contained within the limits of this species. 



