422 Synopsis of the Fresh Water Fishes, 



C uriiii.it 11* argenteus, Gill. 



Vernacular : Silver-fish. 



Body sub-fusiform, highest at the anterior base of the dorsal, 

 where it is three-tenths of the entire length ; the greatest thick- 

 ness is contained two and a third times in its height. The 

 head, from the muzzle to the angle of the operculum, is con- 

 tained four times and two-thirds in the entire length ; the dis- 

 tance from the muzzle to the nape is only two-thirds of this 

 length. The diameter of the orbit is greater than the space 

 that intervenes between it and the muzzle, and is contained 

 little more than three times in the total length of the head ; the 

 distance between the orbits surpasses by more than a third 

 their respective diameters. The commencement of the dorsal 

 is less than a third of the length of the body nearer the snout 

 than the end of the caudal. The lateral line runs through 

 thirty-seven scales ; thirteen obliquely cross the body from the 

 front of the dorsal to the belly. 



D. 10. A. 8. C. 3, 10, 9, 2. Y. 9. P. 13. 



The color is uniform silvery on the body. A black spot is 

 branded on the middle scales at the base of the caudal, and a 

 number of black dots cover the inferior third of the mem- 

 brane, between the middle rays of the dorsal, and give the 

 appearance of a rounded spot. 



Sub-family. 

 Stevardian.e, Gill. 



The group, which we have erected into a distinct tribe 

 or sub-family under the above name, is very distinct and 

 peculiar among the Characins, and may very readily be distin- 

 guished from any other tribe of the family. In the want of an 

 adipose dorsal, especially, it widely departs from any other. 



