THE CYPRINODONTS. 15 



and to the air-bladder, which so far as now known is present iu all members 

 of the family. Wagner gives a diagnosis as follows : 



" Familia, Gijprinoidm. Corpus oblongum, subcompressum vel teretius- 

 culum sqiiamatum ; caput supra depressum, squaniis tectum ; maxilliB 

 araploe ; apertura oris parva, transversa ; dentes in utroque labro et in 

 pharynge. Membrana bi-anchiostega radiis 4 ad 6. Pinna dorsalis unica, 

 anali opposita vel subopposita. Pisces parvuli, fluviatiles, fere omnes 

 Americse indigeni. Genera quinque.". 



The five genera are those above mentioned. After all synonyms are 

 eliminated, Fundulus brasiliensis Val. is the only new species. The state- 

 ments quoted are certainly enough for the establishment of the family. The 

 next question concerns the adoption of the name he gave it. The name 

 Cyprinidas was fixed upon the carps by Fleming when the " Top minnows " 

 were included, it is true ; but it belongs to the carps also by virtue of Piafi- 

 nesque's use of Cyprinidi, in 1810, when these minnows were not included. 

 The word Cyprinoidae is incorrectly written ; etymologically corrected, it is 

 identical with Cyprinidoe. It seems to have been Wagner's intention to coin 

 a different word. This is shown both in the form he gives the name as he 

 writes it and in the reason given for bestowing it, " wegen ihrer grossen 

 Verwandtschaft mit den Cyprinus-Arten." As he has failed to give a dis- 

 tinct title, it is left for us to adopt the next subsequent applied to the family 

 as such. Cuvier, 1829, employed the name Cyprinoides, as also Cyprins, for 

 the Cyprinidte inclusive of the Cyprinodonts ; in this he has not retained the 

 advance made by Wagner. Bonaparte, 1831, accepted the family Cyprinidte 

 from Fleming and Cuvier, and made three sections in it, — Anableptini, 

 Peecilini, and Cyprinini. The sections are made in 1838 to rank as sub- 

 families ; a new one, Leuciscini, is added to the Cyprinidoe, while the Pasci- 

 lini are removed to form, by name only, the family Pa^cilidte, modified to 

 PfccilinidEe in 1839, to PoBcilidce again in 1840, including Anableptini and 

 Psecilini only. Previous to Bonaparte's use of his name for either family or 

 sub-family, Kirby, in 1837, had used PoecilidfB for a family of insects. Poeci- 

 lioidei of Fitzinger, 1832, was applied to Umbridae only. 



Agassiz, 1834, four years previous to Bonaparte's separation of the fam- 

 ily Ptecilidte by name and six years before a diagnosis of the family was 

 published by him, again separated and named the family of Cyprinodonts as 

 distinct from the Cyprinidas, remarking, " Apres I'exposition de ces carac- 

 teres [of the Cyprinidi© properly so-called], on pressent deja que j'esclus 



