26 THE CYFRINODONTS. 



Cyprinodon carpio. 



Plate I. Fig. 3, teeth. 



Cyprinodon carpio Gth., 1866, Cat., VI, 306; Jor. & G., 1882, B. 16 U. S. Mus., 330; Jor., 1SS7, R. 

 U. S. F. Com., 835 ; Hensh., 1891, B. U. S. F. Com., IX, 374. 



Ci/prinodoii mydrm G. & B., 18S3, P. U . S. Mus., V, 433 ; Jor., 1885, P. U. S. Mus., VII, 110, — 1887, 

 R. U. S. F. Com., 835. 



B.6; D. 12(11-13); A. 10 (10-9); V. 7 ; P. 16-17; LI. 25-26 ; Ltr.lO; 

 Vert. 10+13. 



This species does not appear to reach as great a depth in comparison 

 with the length as G. vanec/aUis ; its head is more angular at the sides and 

 more regularly arched from snout to dorsal, and its scales are larger and 

 thicker. On an individual of two and five eighths inches the depth is little 

 more than a third of the total, and the length of the head is little more than 

 a third of the length to the base of the caudal. The arch from the mouth 

 to the origin of the dorsal is quite regular. Snout short, blunt ; chin not so 

 steep as in C. variegaius. Mouth medium, below the level of the lower edge 

 of the orbit, slightly directed upward. Teeth in a single series, tricuspid. 

 Lower jaws longer, firmly united ; upper shorter, protractile. Eye large, 

 two sevenths of head, three-fourths of forehead, nearly as long as snout. 

 Orbits prominent at the sides of the crown, which is a trifle concave 

 transversely. 



Dorsal origin about midway from snout to base of caudal. Anal origin 

 below hindmost rays of dorsal ; base short, rays elongate ; fin narrow and 

 extending farther back than the dorsal about half the length of the posterior 

 ray, or to the short rays of the caudal. Pectoral reaching behind bases of 

 ventrals. Length or depth of caudal, or depth of pedicel, about two thirds 

 of the length of the head. 



Olivaceous, light on the flanks, lighter below, with or without longitudinal 

 streaks of lighter acrcss the middle of the scales. Smaller specimens have 

 a spot on each scale of several rows on the back, forming vittte. Cheeks 

 silvery. Specimens of an inch and three quarters are grayish on the back 

 with groups of small spots marking the positions of five or six transverse 

 blotches on the way to disappearance. The sides and below are silvery. 

 The flanks are crossed by six or eight faint bands of darker, one of them 

 crossing the bases of the caudal rays. Dorsal and caudal puncticulate with 

 brown. Longitudinal streaks of light color on the sides. Others of this 



