54 VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF THE UNITED STATES 



small and pointed: basins of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence; 

 common. 



C. velifer (Raf.). Quillback. Length 300 mm.; head 4; depth 2.5 

 to 3 ; color pale; rays of dorsal fin 26 or 27, the anterior rays twice as long 

 as the others; scales 7-37 to 40-6; opercle striate; lips thick and flesh- 

 colored in life, the two halves of lower lip meeting at an acute angle: 

 Mississippi Valley and southwestward to the Rio Grande; common. 



C. cyprinus (LeSueur). Carp sucker (Fig. 26). Similar to C. 

 velifer, but with a smooth opercle; body elongate: streams entering 

 Chesapeake Bay; common. 



4. Cycleptus Rafinesque. Body elongate and similar to the two 

 previous genera, but with a closed fontanelle; head very small: i 

 species. 



C. elongatus (LeSueur). Blackhorse; Missouri sucker. Length 

 750 mm.; head 6 to 8; depth 4 to 5; color blackish; dorsal fin with 30 

 rays, the anterior 2 or 3 being much prolonged; anal fin with 7 to 8 

 rays; scales 9-56-8; mouth small; upper lip thick and pendant: Missis- 

 sippi Valley, often common in large streams; a good food fish. 



5. Pantosteus Cope. Mountain suckers. Body small, elongate, 

 similar to Catostomus; lips thick, papillose; mouth ventral, with a 

 cartilaginous sheath on each jaw: several species, in the Rocky Moun- 

 tain region, all of little food value. 



P. generosus (Girard). Length 200 mm.; head 5; depth 5.5; color 

 light brown, with dusky spots; chin, fins and lateral band red in male; 

 rays of dorsal fin 9; scales 15-81-14: Great Basin of Utah; very common. 



P. pleheius (Baird & Girard). Length 300 mm.; head 4.6; depth 

 4.75; color dark brown with orange lateral markings in male; scales 

 80; body stout: basin of the Rio Grande; very common. 



P. delphinus (Cope). Length 300 mm.; head 4.75; color bluish 

 above, yellowish below; sides of male rosy; rays of dorsal fin 10; scales 

 16-96 to 105-14; tail very slender: basin of the Colorado; very 

 common. 



P.jordani Evermann. Length 300 mm.; head and depth 5; color 

 dark greenish, speckled; males with orange lateral band; dorsal fin 

 with 10 or II rays; anal with 7 rays; scales 16-90 to 100-14, 48 before 

 the dorsal: basin of the upper Missouri and Columbia; generally 

 distributed. 



6. Catostomus LeSueur. Fine-scaled suckers. Body elongate; 

 mouth rather large, ventral; upper lip thick, papillose and protractile; 

 lower lip very large with a broad free margin usually in two more or less 

 distinct lobes; scales small; dorsal and anal fins high and rather short: 



