320 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
number of pharyngeal teeth (4—5) which are hooked and have 
broad grinding surfaces. 
It is a common fish in places in the “ Lower Columbia River and 
tributaries, as far up as Spokane and Shoshone Falls.” It is one 
of the many foot-long fishes. It is only eaten in lieu of better fishes. 
Fic. 76.—Orthodon microlepidotus. After Goode. 
A second generic type (Orthodon microlepidotus) has no horny 
covering to the jaws, but the lower is sharp-edged and has a knob 
at its symphysis; in the number of pharyngeal teeth, however, it 
agrees better with the old world Chondrostomines (6—6 or 6—5) ; 
the teeth are lancet-like and nearly straight, and to this peculiarity 
the generic name refers (opfoc, straight, and odovg, tooth). The 
color is dark olivaceous but paler below—dark enough, however, for 
it to be called, as so many others have been, blackfish in California ; 
of course this is a distinctive name only in its home, but no other 
has been recorded. 
It ranges generally between a foot and a foot and a half in length 
and its size secures it a place in the markets. “A good many are 
sent to the market in San Francisco, where they are eaten by the 
Cinnmese: 
The third of the so-called Chondrostomine fishes (Lavinia e-xili- 
cauda) has no horny plates to the jaws and the lower jaw shuts 
within the upper. The pharyngeal teeth are uniserial (4—5 or 5—5) 
and cultriform with broad but shallow grinding surfaces. Like 
several of its compatriots its caudal fin is reinforced by a number 
of ‘rudimentary or fulcrate rays procurrent above and below the 
peduncle. The peduncle is quite slender and it is to that slenderness 
that the specific name (exilis, slender, cauda, tail) refers. A foot 
