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4 
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THE CYPRINODONTS. 18 
The direct history of the Cyprinodonts begins with Anableps anableps 
of Artedi, 1738. In his Synonymia this author mentions the genus, with 
references to his Genera, and to Seba’s work, saying, “ Est piscis antea non 
descriptus ; cujus adcuratam delineationem in opere D. Sebae dedimus.” 
In the Genera he gives the generic characters “ Membrana Branchiostega 
Ossiculis sex. Pinna unica, exigua, in extremo dorso,” remarking for the 
species “ Novus piscis, quem in Sedae thesauro descripsi.”’ His description, 
in the third volume of the Thesaurus, occupying four pages folio with 
figures noting the peculiarities of the eye and anal fin among other 
features, was not published till 1761, after Anableps had been mentioned 
by Linné in several editions of the “ Systema,” and described and figured 
by Gronow, 1754. Linné’s, 1766, Cobitis heteroclita, now Fundulus, was 
the second species of the family to be recorded. Another species, now 
of the same genus, was made known by Schoepff, 1788, and received a 
Latin name, Cobitis majalis, at the hand of Walbaum, 1792. Bloch, Schnei- 
der, 1801, added a new genus and the fourth species, Poecilia vivipara. La 
Cépide, 1803, established the genus Cyprinodon, with a new species, C. 
variegatus, also the genera Fundulus and Hydrargyra, the latter of which 
is now placed as a subgenus in the former. The next genus in sequence 
was Lebias of Cuvier, 1817, with the species L. calaritana. This was fol- 
lowed by Mollienisia of Lesueur, 1817, who also added a new species, 
Hydrargyra diaphana. Riippell, 1828, made known a new species, Lebias 
dispar, from the Red Sea. Valenciennes, 1828, also contributed a species, 
his Fundulus brasiliensis, to the number known previous to 1830 and 
accepted as valid at the present writing. Several of these had already 
repeatedly been described and named ; their history, and that of subsequent 
additions and changes of names, is sufficiently indicated in the synonymy 
given below with the various genera and species. 
Before establishment as distinct, the family history of the Cyprinodonts 
is merged with that of the Cyprinidw, which may be traced to Rafinesque’s 
“ Ordine Cyprinidi,” of 1810, This group was made to contain a species of 
Mugil and three species of Cyprinus. In the Analyse, 1815, Rafinesque 
characterized his 16th family, “ Cyprinia. Les Cypriniens,” as follows: 
“ Point d’appendices aux nageoires pectorales, téte Gtroite, point de seconde 
nageoire dorsale adipeuse ; souvent des dents et opercules quelquefois écail- 
leux.”” This family comprised genera now distributed among seven or eight 
families. In the second of its sub-families, the Gymnopomia, he placed 
