PROCHILODUS. 257 



tiful, and destroy great numbers, whicli they barba- 

 cote in the smoke to make them keep. In the Rio 

 Negro, great numbers of them are taken and dried. 

 They are sold at from two to three dollars per aroba 

 of thirty-two pounds. They take bait with great 

 avidity, and afford excellent sport to the angler and 

 gain to those who live by taking them. 

 D. 15— P. 13— V. 8— A. 11— C. 18— Br. 5— Ribs, 23 pairs- 

 Vert. 36. 



CYPRINID^ OR CARPS. 

 The reasons which induce us (with our present 

 knowledge of their structure) to place Erythrinus 

 with the Salmon, remove Prochilodus from them: 

 take away the second dorsal fin, and they would at 

 once have been ranged here ; and it seems as neces- 

 sary to have among the Carps some form represent- 

 ing the Salmon, as there would be in the reverse 

 of the proposition. In the internal structure the 

 masticating stomach supplies the almost entire want 

 of teeth, and the double air-bladder is similar to 

 the form of that organ in the Cyprini. The cha- 

 racters of Agassiz are, — 



" Prochilodus, Agas Caput parvum, crassum, latum. 



Oculi magni laterales. Os parvum in summo rostri 

 apice, labio latissimo, camoso, emergente omnino cir- 

 cumdatum. Dentes minutissimi, apice introrsum flexi 

 in ipso margine labii carnosi. Ossa inter-maxillaria, et 

 maxillaria superiora minima in iabii substantia recon- 

 dita. Lingua nulla. Membrana branchiostega radiis 4 

 latis. Corpus compressum, latum ; squamis raagnis 

 duris obtectum. Pinnse mediocres." 



