314 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
Two of the species have perfectly naked bodies and are very 
closely related, but nevertheless are distinguished by the presence 
or absence of barbels and have consequently been referred to differ- 
ent genera—Meda and Plagopterus. 
The longest known species is the Meda fulgida which has no 
barbels. It is a little fish rarely exceeding two inches in length 
and of a bright silvery color. It was found by C. H. Gilbert and 
N. B. Scofield (1898) to be “ extremely abundant in the upper course 
of the Rio Verde, near Chino,” and occurs elsewhere in Arizona. 
PaciFic SLOPE CYPRINIDS 
As already indicated (p. 298), the cyprinoid fauna of the streams 
and lakes of the Pacific slope has many features in common with 
that of Europe, and the English angler might recognize, in the 
objects of his capture, forms that he had been familiar with from 
youth. He would, probably, even be inclined to call one or more 
chub, and the chub genus—Leuciscus—is represented by a number 
of species. None of the species, indeed, are closely related and all 
belong to sections or subgenera peculiar to América, but the differ- 
ences are so slight as to justify their union in the same genus. 
The common “chub” of the San Francisco and Sacramento 
markets is the sole representative of a peculiar section (Siboma) 
and is conspicuous for the massive appearance of the caudal peduncle 
from a side view, and to this the name L. crassicauda alludes; it is 
very much compressed and high, squeezed out, as it were, upwards 
and downwards; the scales are comparatively large and well im- 
bricated (50-56 along the lateral line); the pharyngeal teeth are 
generally in unequal number on the opposite sides (2, 4—5, 2); 
the color of the back is brown and of the sides white, but the scales 
generally are dotted with dark. Its ordinary length is about a foot. 
It is caught in large quantities and is a staple market fish but 
chiefly utilized by the Chinese. 
Another very common species is the “chub of Utah Lake,” or 
the “ great chub” common in the streams of the plateaux and bot- 
toms of the Rocky Mountains—the Leuciscus lineatus of recent 
ichthyology. It is typical of a group of species (Tigoma) charac- 
terized by small or moderate-sized scales which are less imbricated 
than usual; the pharyngeal teeth are essentially like those of Leu- 
ciscus crassicauda. The color is very dark—blackened—and this 
darkness extends to sides and belly even, especially about the edges 
of the scales, for the centers are somewhat paler; this arrangement 
of colors has given rise to the rather misleading scientific name 
