BUBALICHTHYS URUS. 209 



" Lateral line perfectly straight frcfta upper "edge of opercle to caudal. 

 " Scales, 8-35-5. Dorsal I. 25 ; A. I. 9. 

 " Color in spirits, dull yellowish olive ; fins dusky. 

 " Type specimen 12 inches long, in Ills. State Museum, from Cairo, 

 Illinois." 



51. BUBALICHTHYS URUS Agassiz. 



Big-mouthed Buffalo. Black Buffalo. Mongrel Buffalo. 



1818 f f Amblodon niger RAFINESQUE, Journal de Physique Phila. 421. (Entirely un- 

 recognizable.) 



1 1 Catostomus niger RAFINESQUE, Icbth. Oh. 56, 1820. (Unrecognizable ; more 

 likely Cycleptus elongatus.) 



Bubalichthys niger AGASSIZ, Am. Journ. Sc. Arts, 2d series, xix, 195, 1855. 



Bubalichthys niger JORDAN, Fishes of lud. 222, 1875. 



Bubalichthys niger JORDAN, Bnll. Buffalo Soc. Nat. Hist. 95, 1876. 



Bubalichthys niyer JORDAN, Man. Vert. 298, 1876. 



Bubalichthys niger NELSON, Bull. No. 1, Ills. Mus. Nat. Hist. 50, 1876. 



Bubalichthys niger JORDAN & COPELAND, Check List, 158, 1876. 



Bubalichthys niger JORDAN, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phila. 75, 1877. 



Bubalichthys niger JORDAN & GILBERT, in Klippart's Kept. 53, 1876. 



Bubalichthys niger JORDAN, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. ix, 34, 1877. 



Bubalichthys niger JORDAN. Man. Vert. ed. 2d, 323. 

 1654 Carpiodes urns AGASSIZ, Am. Journ. Sc. Arts, 355. 



Bubalichthys urus AGASSIZ, Am. Journ. Sc. Arts,2d series, xix, 193,1855. 



Bubalichthys urns PUTNAM, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 10. 1863. 



Bubalichthys urus JORDAN, Fishes of lud. 222, 1875. 



Bubalichthys urus JORDAN & COPELAND, Check List, 158,1876. 

 1655 Bubalichthys bonasus AGASSIZ, Am. Journ. Sc. Arts, 2d series, xix, 195. 



Bubalichthys bonasus JORDAN & COPELAND, Check List, 158, 1876. 



HABITAT. Mississippi Valley, in the larger streams. 



Tbis is an abundant species in the Mississippi and its larger tributa- 

 ries. It is very distinct from the preceding, almost intermediate between 

 Bubalichthys bubahis and Ichthyobus bubalus. It may indeed be necessary 

 to unite these two genera on account of this species. 



The question of the name which should be borne by this species is a 

 very difficult one. Inasmuch as Rafinesque's C. niger was known to him 

 only through the accounts of Mr. Audubon, a gentleman known to have 

 played several practical jokes on the too credulous naturalist, and to 

 have led him thereby to describe and name several impossible animals, 

 and inasmuch as no real description whatever is given by Eafinesque, 

 it seems to me that the name niger can be used only on the authority of 

 Agassiz, and not on that of Rannesque. That being the case, the name 

 Bull. X. M. :No. 1214 



