422 DESCRIPTION, Sec. [November, 



it is very common there, and called Black- chub, a name 

 often given to many species in the United States. Length 

 from three to six inches. It is used as food. The upper 

 part of the head is black, the cheeks and gill covers are 

 olivaceoub, the iris is large and gtey. The tinge in the 

 body is rather variable, the back being either blackish 

 or brownish, and commonly with an olivaceous shade, the 

 sides are olivaceous or nearly brownish, the belly is of a 

 pale olivaceous or nearly whitish; but the black ring of 

 the tail is constant. The scales are much larger than in 

 the foregoing species. 'I'he dorsal and anal fins have 

 nine rays, this last does not reach the tail. Pectoral fins 

 with fifteen rays; abdominal fins lanceolate acute, rather 

 far apart, and much .nearer to the vent than to the head. 

 Caudal fin with twenty^-four rays. 



4 Exoglossom nigrescens. 



Head short, forehead smooth and convex, lower lip 

 trilobated; body oblong blackish, lateral line nearly 

 straight; pectorol fins short, oboval; dorsal fin in the mid- 

 dle of the back, tail slightly forked. 



Obs' I noticed this fish in 1806, in Lake Champlain; 

 but mistook it then for a variety of the Cyprinus melari' 

 otus of the river Hudson, and I have to regret that I did 

 not take an exact drawing of it. But it is however sufiici- 

 ently distinguished from the E, annulatum, by the want of 

 caudal ring, and its deeper black tinge, which extends to 

 the fins: I did not notice the number of their rays. Its 

 length varies from two to eight inches. It is used as 

 food, and called by the vulgar name of Black Chub, like 

 the foregoing. 



