THE CYPRINODONTS. 13 



The direct history of the Cyprinodonts begins with Anableps anableps 

 of Artedi, 1738. In his Synonymia this author mentions the genus, with 

 references to his Genera, and to Seba's work, saying, " Est piscis antea non 

 descriptus; cujus adcuratam delineationem in opere D. Sebae dedimus." 

 In the Genera he gives the generic characters " Memhrana Branchiostega 

 Ossiculis sex. Pima unica, exigua, in extreme dorso," remarking for the 

 species " Novus piscis, quem in Sehae thesauro descripsi." His description, 

 in the third vohime of the Thesaurus, occupying fonr pages folio with 

 figures noting the pecuHarities of the eye and anal fin among other 

 features, was not pubhshed till 1761, after Anableps had been mentioned 

 by Linne in several editions of the " Systema," and described and figured 

 by Gronow, 1754. Linne's, 1766, Cobitis heteroclita, now Fundulus, was 

 the second species of the family to be recorded. Another species, now 

 of the same genus, was made known by Schoepff, 1788, and received a 

 Latin name, Cobitis majalis, at the hand of Walbaum, 1792. Bloch, Schnei- 

 der, 1801, added a new genus and the fourth species, Poecilia vivipara. La 

 Cepede, 1803, established the genus Cyprinodon, with a new species, C. 

 variegatus, also the genera Fundulus and Hydrargyra, the hatter of which 

 is now placed as a subgenus in the former. The next genus in sequence 

 was Lebias of Cuvier, 1817, with the species L. calaritana. This was fol- 

 lowed by Mollienisia of Lesueur, 1817, who also added a new species, 

 Hydrargyra diaphana. Ruppell, 1828, made Ivnown a new species, Lebias 

 dispar, from the Red Sea. Valenciennes, 1828, also contributed a species, 

 his Fundulus brasiliensis, to the number known previous to 1830 and 

 accepted as valid at the present writing. Several of these had already 

 repeatedly been described and named ; their history, and that of subsequent 

 additions and changes of names, is sufficiently indicated in the synonymy 

 given below with the various genera and species. 



Before estabhshment as distinct, the family history of the Cyprinodonts 

 is" merged with that of the Cyprinida^, which may be traced to Rafinesque's 

 " Ordine Cyprinidi," of 1810. This group was made to contain a species of 

 Mugil and three species of Cyprinus. In the Analyse, 1815, Rafinesque 

 characterized his 16th family, " Cyprinia. Les Cypriniens," as follows : 

 " Point d'appendices aux nageoires pectorales, tete etroite, point de seconde 

 nageoire dorsale adipeuse ; souvent des dents et opercules quelquefois ecail- 

 leux." This family comprised genera now distributed among seven or eight 

 families. In the second of its sub-families, the Gymnopomia, he placed 



