. cvm. 267 



SUB- OEDEE. -EVEBTOGSTATHI. 



(The Carp -like Fishes.) 



FAMILY CVIIL CYPRINID^E. 



(The Minnows.) 



Head naked, body scaly (except in Meda, etc.); mar- 

 gin of upper jaw formed by intermaxillaries alone; 

 mouth toothless; lips much less developed than in the 

 Catostomoids; barbels two to four (absent in most of our 

 genera and not large in any) ; lower pharyngeal bones 

 well developed, falciform, nearly parallel with the gill 

 arches, each provided with one to three series of teeth 

 in small number, never more than seven; belly usually 

 rounded, rarejy compressed, never serrated; gill openings 

 moderate, separated by a narrow isthmus; no adipose 

 fin ; dorsal fin (in all our species) short, of less than ten 

 rays; air bladder usually large, commonly divided into 

 an anterior and a posterior lobe, rarely wanting; stomach 

 without appendages, appearing as a simple enlargement 

 of the intestines. 



Small fishes of the fresh waters of the Old World and 

 of North America. Genera about one hundred and fifty, 

 species seven hundred to one thousand; excessively 

 abundant where found, both in individuals and in species, 

 and from their great uniformity in size, form and color- 

 ation, constituting one of the most difficult groups in all 

 Natural History in which to distinguish species. Ours 

 are mostly of smaller size than those of the Old World, 

 several of the larger European types being represented 

 in America by Catostomoid forms. Our largest species, 

 Semotilus rhotheus, rarely attains a weight of three or 

 four pounds, and a length of nearly eighteen inches. 



