306 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
opposition to this the fish commissioner of Canada (E. F. Prince) 
declares (1905)? that “ Thoreau was very far astray ”’ and that the 
fish’s “ flesh is white,” though “not quite as white as the whitefish, 
and of a delicate flavour, the bones being far less troublesome ” 
Fic. 49.—Semotilus corporalis. After Storer. 
than those of “its near allies, the suckers.” Prince had “known it 
(wittingly or unwittingly) served up as whitefish at sportsmen’s 
elubs,” and in Canada it is frequently called whitefish. 
Another type related to Leuciscus and still more to Semotilus 
has been named Platygobio to commemorate one of the chief dis- 
tinctions, the broad flattish head; the teeth are biserial but in reduced 
number (2, 4—4, 2) and have narrowed grinding surfaces; max- 
illary barbels are well developed. Three species are known and the 
best known is the Platygobio gracilis, designated as the flathead 
Fic. 50.—Platygobio gracilis. After Gill. 
chub. Its range is from the east slope of the Rocky Mountains to 
the Saskatchewan River, and it is “ abundant in river channels as 
far south as Kansas City, not ascending to springs.” It attains a 
length of a foot. 
* Twenty-seventh An. Rep. Dep’t Marine and Fish—Fisheries, p. lxxviii. 
