LAMPREYS AND FISHES OF INDIANA. 193 



IcTiOBus CYPRiNELLA (C. and V.). 



Buffalo-Jish ; Red-mouthed Buffalo. 



Jordan, 1890, 7, 44; Ictiohusbubalus, Jordan and Gilbert, 1882, 8, 114. 



Body high and compressed ; heavy forwards ; the back considerably 

 arched in front of the dorsal ; a line from the pupil to the middle of cau- 

 dal falling below the middle of height at the front of the dorsal. 

 Mouth rather large, nearly terminal and oblique. Opercles coarsely 

 striated. Head in the length three and one-half Depth in length two 

 and one-half to three. Scales 8-40-6. Dorsal with twenty-eight to thirty 

 rays, the most anterior about one-half the length of the base of the fin. 

 Color dull brownish olive to nearly black above. Fins dark to black. 

 Reaches a length of three feet and a weight of forty pounds. 



Distributed throughout the Mississippi Valley. I find but few records 

 of it ip Indiana. Profs. Jenkins and Evermanu took it in the Wabash 

 River' in Carroll County (,?•?, '88, 44), Dr. Jordan (4, '88, 162) and 

 myself have taken it at New Harmony ; Vigo County (16, 94) ; also in 

 Wabash River at Lafayette (24, '93, 82). 



Prof Forbes (I4., '88, 451) found that the food of this species differs 

 from that of /. bubalus in containing more vegetable matter. On an 

 average about two-thirds the food was of animal origin, consisting of 

 mollusca, aquatic insects, and the smaller crustaceans. This species is 

 closely related to the next, so that the scientific experts are not always 

 able to distinguish them. They may really be one and the same species. 



ICTIOBUS URUS (Ag.). 



Razor-backed Buffalo ; Mongrel Biffalo. 



Jordan and Gilbert, 1882, S, 883 ; Bubalichthys urus, Jordan and Gil- 

 bert, 1882, 8, 116. 



This species is regarded as differing from the preceding in having a 

 smaller and more inferior mouth, which is protractile more or less 

 downwards. The pharyngeal bones are regarded as stronger, and the 

 teeth coarser. The lips are said to be thicker than those of I. cyprinella, 

 and more plicate. But these distinctions do not always enable us to dis- 

 tinguish the two forms. 



Eye in head six and one-half times. Dorsal fin twenty-five to thirty 

 rays. Scales same as in /. cyprinella. Color smoky-gray to very dark 

 above, somewhat paler below. Fins dusky. Reaches about the same 

 size as the preceding species. 



Distribution throughout most of the Mississippi Valley. In Indiana 

 it has been taken, so far as reported, only in the Wabash River in Vigo 

 13 — Geology. 



