FISHES. 



131 



Europe. Similar species are found throughout southern India, and one of the barbels 

 (Barbus inosal), from the mountains of India, is said to be the largest of the Cypri- 

 nidte, reaching a length of more than six feet, and having scales " as large as the palm 

 of the hand." 



More closely allied to American Cyjirmidaj are the roach {Leuciscus rutihts), the 

 chub (Squalhts cephalus), the dace {Squalius leuciscus), the id (Idus), the red-eye 

 (Scardinius), the minnow {Phoxinus), the gudgeon {Gobio), the bream {Abrainis), 

 the lileak {Album us), and the tench {Tinea). These sj)ecies receive much more 

 attention from anglers in Europe than their corresponding species do in America. In 

 the United States the Cyprinidaj are one and all considered as "boy's fish," un- 

 worthy the notice of the angler, who finds in the trout and liass of our streams a 

 much higher game. The Asiatic species are even more numerous and varied than 

 those of North America and Europe. Their characters need not, however, be further 

 noticed here. As food fishes, the Cyjirinidie all take a low rank. Their flesh is full 



Fig. SGr^ Ptt/cftocheihts oreffoitensiHj Sacramento ' pikt 



of small bones. It is soft, and readily sjioils. When cooked, it is pale, and has little 

 flavor. Thoreau's remark tliat " a chub is a soft fish ; it tastes like brown paper 

 salted," applies to all of them. 



Numerous species of fossil Cyprinida> have been described from the Great Basin 

 and neighboring regions. These belong chiefly or entirely to types now living in the 

 same region. Most of these are known from the j)haryngeal bones only. 



The suckers, or Catostomid^, are an off-shoot from the Cyprinidfe, diifering 

 chiefly in the structure of the mouth and of the lower pharyngeal bones. The border 

 of the mouth above is formed mesially by the small premaxillaries, and laterally by 

 the maxillaries. The teeth on the lower pharyngeals are small and very numerous, 

 arranged in one series like the teeth of a comb. The lips are usually thick and fleshy, 

 and the dorsal fin is more or less elongate (its rays eleven to fifty in nundjer), charac- 

 ters which distinguish the suckers from the American Cy]irinidie generally, but not 

 from those of the Old World. 



About sixty species of suckers are know7i, all of them found in the rivers of North 

 America except two, which occur in Siberia and China. Only two or three of the 

 sjiecies extend their range south of the Tropic of Cancer into Mexico or Central 

 America, and none occur in Cuba or any of the neighboring islands. The majority 



