Slorcr's Synopsis of the Fishes of North America. 1 75 



height ; this fin is higher than that of any other species of the genus, exceeding in length 

 the caudal lobes. Pectorals very broad. Scales large, rounded, very strongly striated cir- 

 cularly, slightly in rays ; forty-five in a longitudinal series. Golden green. 



D. 16. P. 10. V. 8. A. 8. C. 4, 19-1. Length, 25 inches. 



Lake Ontario, Val. 



Le Catostome carpe (Caloslomus carpio, Val.), Cuv. el Vai-, ivii. p. lo~. 



GENUS VI. SCLEROGNATHUS, Val. 

 Snout slightly advanced beyond the mouth ; the extremity of the mouth is 

 supported, as in the Catostomi, by the intermaxillary, which is furnished in 

 front with a well developed, projecting, cartilaginous ethmoid. The upright 

 branch is long, and of a styloid form, while the horizontal one is shortened, and 

 a mere keel, the inferior edge of which serves merely to support the superior 

 angle of the mouth. The remainder of the maxillary arch is formed by a 

 fibrous ligament covered by a thin, undilated lip, reduced to a thin and 

 fleshy protuberance. The upper jaw is a wide, very solid bony piece, under 

 which the upper lip is partly drawn ; this bone is concealed by the first two 

 suborbital's, being wider and no less advanced than those of the Catostomi. 

 The lower lip is straight and delicate ; hence the mouth of the fish cannot ex- 

 ercise suction in the manner of the Catostomi. As to its lips, it is a Leucis- 

 cus ; hut the osteology of its mouth resembles that of the Catostomi. The 

 dorsal is long, like that of the Carps. The head is naked, marked by lines of 

 mucous pores. Pharyngeal teeth comb-like, finer and more equal than those 

 of the Catostomi. The air-bladder is divided into two large lobes ; the ante- 

 rior is large and rounded, with a slight depression at its superior face ; the 

 second conical, twice as long as the first, and followed by two small lobes ; 

 the second communicates with the oesophagus by an air-pipe. 



1. Sclerognathus cyprinus, Lesueur. 



Body compressed, elliptic, sharp at the base of the dorsal fin, which is very long and falci- 

 form on its anterior part, and low behind. Fins of a gray-blue color. Anal fin lunaled. 

 Caudal forked, with pointed lobes. Scales very large, semirhomboidal, and variegated with 

 blue, yellow, and green reflections; thirty-five in a longitudinal series; seven rows of 

 scales above, and six rows below, the lateral line. 



D. 31. P. 18. V. 9. A. 10. C. \H\. Length, 20 inches. 



