GILL] HE FAMILY OF CYPRINIDS 213 
are generally developed, many have only two and not a few have 
none; in the size of the scales there are the extremes of at least 
eighty and twenty transverse rows. Some of the other features 
in which species differ may be known from the differential charac- 
ters of three specially noteworthy ones representing different sec- 
tions of the genus. All of these have two pairs of barbels. 
According to Professor Max Weber, a South African barbel, 
described in 1897 (Barbus viviparus) is viviparous! 
The common barbel of Europe (Barbus barbus) is representa- 
tive of a group characteristic of Europe and Asia Minor, distin- 
guished by a strong and coarsely serrated dorsal spine, five branched 
anal rays, and small or moderate scales; specifically, it has about 
sixty (54-63) scales along the lateral line and there are about seven 
(7) rows between the lateral line and ventral fin; the snout is very 
prominent and the lips are regularly thick. 
The barbel is an outlier of an immense aggregate of tropical and 
subtropical species and as such prefers warm water and does not 
ascend as far north as most of the European Cyprinids; it is not a 
tenant of the Scandinavian streams for instance. 
It furnishes very poor food, although it is a favorite angler’s fish. 
Captain Buckland thought that “a good day’s barbel fishing is 
enjoyable beyond all measure, but it is most advisable to employ a 
professional fisherman to ground-bait the ‘swim,’ arrange the 
tackle, etc.” 
All the preceding species except the barbels belong to the typical! 
subfamily, Cyprinines, distinguished by the triangular and very 
hard carp-stone or mill-stone, very short anal fin, and lateral line 
median along the tail. Most of the European species belong to 
another subfamily (Leuciscines) which have a pentagonal or irreg- 
ular and elastic pharyngeal carp-stone and moderately short anal, 
the lateral line being median on the tail as in the carps. Many of the 
best known of the European fishes belong to it and are the delight 
not only of the youthful angler, but of numerous men who know not 
the joy of contest with fishes of nobler kind or have not the means 
of reaching such. The familiar names chub, dace, minnow and 
roach are given to members of the subfamily. These names have 
been so much misapplied and are so interesting themselves that an 
‘ 
cinus, a fish of the “river Tigris, near Mossul,” that it “attains to a weight 
of 300 pounds,” but this statement is not corroborated, so far as known, by 
any other author or by Dr. Gtinther himself in his later writings. The original 
describer’s (Heckel’s) largest specimen was only two feet and a quarter long. 
(“Die Exemplare unseres Museums sind 2 Zoll bis 2 Schuh 3 Zoll lang.”) 
