FISHES CYPKINIDAE GOBIO VERNALIS. 



249 



This species is most graceful in its general appearance ; its well developed vertical fins must con 

 tribute a great deal towards rendering its movements swift. The body and head are very slender 

 and elongated ; the head forming about the fifth of the total length. The snout is rather 

 prominently developed, tapering. The eye is small, compared to G.fluviatilia, resembling more, 

 in that respect, G. cataractce, from which, however, this species can readily be distinguished by 

 the position of its ventral fins, which are inserted under the anterior margin of the dorsal, 

 whilst they are placed in advance of it in G. cataractce. The caudal is longer than the head; 

 the dorsal and anal being likewise well developed. The ventrals and pectorals are slender and 



elongated. 



D 1, 8 + 1 ; A 1, 8 + 1 ; C 6, 1, 9, 8, 1, 5 ; V 8 ; P 14. 



The scales are deeper than long, anteriorly sub-truncated, posteriorly rounded, with radiating 

 furrows upon their posterior section only. 



The color is yellowish brown, lighter beneath than above. A silvery streak may be observed 

 along the middle of the flank, superiorly margined with a dusky area, terminating into a 

 blackish spot upon the insertion of the caudal fin. 



References to the figures. It is accidentally that the original drawings of Gobio gelidus and 

 G. aestivalis were transposed at the time the plates went to the engraver ; the former to the 

 United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, the latter to the U. S. P. K. B. Explorations and 

 Survey. 



Plate XXIX, fig. 5, (U. S. & Mex. Boundary Report) represents Gobio gelidus, size of life. 

 Fig. 6, head from beneath, showing the outline of the mouth. Fig. 7, a scale from the dorsal 

 region. Fig. 8, a scale from the lateral line. Fig. 9, a scale from the abdominal region. 



List of specimens. 



2. GOBIO VERNALIS, G r d . 



SPEC. CHAR. Head contained about five times and a half in the entire length, in which the caudal fin enters four times. Eye 

 large, sub-circular ; its diameter entering three times and a half in the length of the side of the head. Body sub-fusiform, 

 rather thick anteriorly ; anterior margin of dorsal fin nearer the extremity of the snout than the insertion of the caudal. Tip 

 of pectorals not extending as far as the origin of the ventrals ; tip of ventrals extending to the anterior edge of the vent. 

 Yellowish brown ; sides silvery. 



SYN. Gobio vernalis, GRD. in Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. VIII, 1856, 189. 



The largest specimens which we have seen of this species measure about three inches and a 

 quarter in total length. It resembles Alburnops in its general appearance. The head is short, 

 the snout blunt and rounded. The posterior extremity of the maxillar bone corresponding to a 

 vertical line drawn across the anterior rim of the orbit. The eye is large ; its diameter being 

 contained three times and a half in the length of the side of the head. The body is fusiform, 

 thickest anteriorly, tapering posteriorly. The caudal fin is long and deeply furcated ; it 

 constitutes nearly the fourth of the entire length, whilst the head enters in the latter nearly 

 five times and a half. 



D 1, 9 ; A 1 , 9 ; 6, 1, 9, 8, 1, 5 ; V 8 P 13. 

 32 a 



