—— ve 
THE CYPRINODONTS. 15 
and to the air-bladder, which so far as now known is present in all members 
of the family. Wagner gives a diagnosis as follows: 
“Familia, Cyprincide. Corpus oblongum, subcompressum vel teretius- 
culum squamatum ; caput supra depressum, squamis tectum; maxille 
ample; apertura oris parva, transversa; dentes in utroque labro et in 
pharynge. Membrana branchiostega radiis 4 ad 6. Pinna dorsalis unica, 
anali opposita vel subopposita. Pisces parvuli, fluviatiles, fere omnes 
Americe indigeni. Genera quinque.” 
The five genera are those above mentioned. After all synonyms are 
eliminated, Fundulus brasiliensis Val. is the only new species. The state- 
ments quoted are certainly enough for the establishment of the family. The 
next question concerns the adoption of the name he gave it. The name 
Cyprinidw was fixed upon the carps by Fleming when the “ Top minnows ”’ 
were included, it is true; but it belongs to the carps also by virtue of Rafi- 
nesque’s use of Cyprinidi, in 1810, when these minnows were not included. 
The word Cyprinoidw is incorrectly written ; etymologically corrected, it is 
identical with Cyprinidw. It seems to have been Wagner's intention to coin 
a different word. This is shown both in the form he gives the name as he 
writes it and in the reason given for bestowing it, “ wegen ihrer grossen 
Verwandtschaft mit den Cyprinus-Arten.” As he has failed to give a dis- 
tinct title, it is left for us to adopt the next subsequent applied to the family 
as such. Cuvier, 1829, employed the name Cyprinoides, as also Cyprins, for 
the Cyprinids inclusive of the Cyprinodonts ; in this he has not retained the 
advance made by Wagner. Bonaparte, 1831, accepted the family Cyprinide 
from Fleming and Cuvier, and made three sections in it, — Anableptini, 
Pecilini, and Cyprinini. The sections are made in 1838 to rank as sub- 
families ; a new one, Leuciscini, is added to the Cyprinidw, while the Pzci- 
lini are removed to form, by name only, the family Pscilide, modified to 
Pecilinide in 1839, to Pecilidw again in 1840, including Anableptini and 
Pecilini only. Previous to Bonaparte’s use of his name for either family or 
sub-family, Kirby, in 1837, had used Poecilidw for a family of insects. Poeci- 
lioidei of Fitzinger, 1832, was applied to Umbridm only. 
Agassiz, 1834, four years previous to Bonaparte’s separation of the fam- 
ily Pecilide by name and six years before a diagnosis of the family was 
published by him, again separated and named the family of Cyprinodonts as 
distinct from the Cyprinidw, remarking, “ Aprés l’exposition de ces carac- 
teres [of the Cyprinidew properly so-called], on pressent déjA que j’exclus 
