THE CARP TRIBE 2829 



armored catfish, forming the genus Loricaria, the body is remarkable for its 

 elongated and slender form; while the head is depressed, with a more or less pro- 

 duced and spatulate snout, on the under surface of which the mouth is situated 

 at a considerable distance from the extremity, its margins being surrounded by 

 large folds, and each corner having a barbel. Both the dorsal and anal fins are 

 short and elevated, and the entire head and body enveloped in a bony cuirass. 



SECTION PLECTISPONDYLI 

 THE CARP TRIBE Family 



Adopting a modification of Professor Cope's classification, the eels and their 

 allies may be regarded as forming one sectional group of the suborder, while the 

 catfishes constitute a second by themselves. A third equivalent group will then be 

 made by the carps, together with the under-mentioned family of the characinoids 

 and certain allied forms. This third group for which the name Plectispondyli 

 has been proposed while agreeing with the catfishes (forming the group Nematog- 

 nathi) in having the first four vertebrae fused together and highly modified, differs 

 in the presence of a subopercular bone. As in the last family, the margin of the 

 upper jaw is formed by the premaxillae, and the whole mouth is toothless, teeth 

 being developed on the pharyngeal bones alone. While the head is invariably 

 naked, the body is generally covered with scales, and although it may be scaleless 

 it is never invested with bony plates. False gills may be developed, and, if so, are 

 glandular. When an air bladder is present, it is always of large size; and it may 

 be divided into two lateral moieties inclosed in an ossified capsule, or constricted 

 into an anterior and posterior portion which are not thus protected. The numerous 

 members of this family are fresh- water fish, confined to the Old World and North 

 America, being quite unknown in the southern half of the New World, and also in 

 Australia. Showing much less diversity of form and habits than the catfishes, 

 the carp tribe are for the most part omnivorous, although a few of its members 

 restrict themselves to a vegetable diet. Although some of them prefer muddy 

 situations, where their barbels are probably of some assistance, the majority of the 

 carps differ from the catfish in selecting clear waters for their haunts. The Indian 

 forms seem to be more carnivorous than their European relatives, many of the 

 larger kinds preying upon their smaller brethren. Geologically, the carps appear 

 to be a comparatively modern group, the earliest known forms occurring in the 

 Eocene of Sumatra; these being identified with the existing Oriental genera. Other 

 fossil carps have been obtained from the North-American Eocene, and are assigned 

 to extinct generic types; while in the Continental Miocene we find representatives 

 of a number of the existing European genera, as well as of a few now mainly or 

 exclusively Asiatic. On account of their more cleanly feeding habits the flesh of 

 the carps is superior to that of the catfishes. The family is represented by over a 

 hundred existing genera, arranged under two subfamilies. 



