4-74- 



Cope.] ^ ' -^ [JuTiG /, 



in many of our older States. The execution of siicli laws is, however, the 

 important point, and the destruction by officers, of the spring traps and 

 weirs in the Neuse, Cape Fear, Yadkin and Catawba Rivers, every spring, 

 at the time of running of the fishes, would allow of the escape of immense 

 numbers of them, before the traps could be repaired. 



70. Ptychostomus ertthtjrus, Raf. 



Ichthyologia Ohiensis, p. 59. Ptychostomus duquesnei, Agass part. Am. 

 Journ. Sci. Arts., XIX 90. Cope Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1868, 23G. 



This species is probably the most widely distributed, as well as one of 

 the largest of the genus. 



The form is somewhat compressed, but the dorsal line is not much 

 arched ; the head is of medium size, entering the length 4.5 to 4. 06 times. 

 The end of the muzzle is nearly vertical in profile. The lips are full, the 

 posterior truncate or openly emarginate posteriorly ; the plicate coarse. 

 Eye 4.5 times in length ; 1.66 lines in interorbital width. Depth of body 

 three and two-thirds times in length (exclus. caudal.) Top of head nearly 



plane. Scales 5 42 4. Radii D. XIII, V. 9., dorsal with straight 



superior outline. Color silvery, rosy and gray above ; dorsal caudal and 

 anal fins orange. 



The above description is taken from one of several specimens from the 

 Yonghiogheny River, in Western Pennsylvania. I have procured other 

 and similar individuals from the Holston and French Broad Rivers, in 

 Tennessee. It is, as Rafinesque observes, a most abundant sucker in all 

 the rivers tributary to the Mississippi from the East, and is that which is 

 known every where as "red horse." It is the common fish- food of the 

 people, sharing the distinction with the "blue cat," IcMliaeliorus eoerir 

 lescens. It reaches as large a size as any species of the genus, and I have 

 seen them, of six and eight pounds. The largest I have heard of, was 

 caught in the French Broad, and weighed twelve. 



With various authors, I have formerly regarded it as the Pt. duquesnei 

 of Leseuer, but I suspect it to be distinct, as already indicated by Rafines- 

 que. The characters of the latter are pointed out below. 



A species resembling the present, as well as the Pt. rohustus, bears the 

 name of "red-hoi-se," in the country of North Carolina, east of the 

 mountains, but whether the same or not, the present inaccessibility of 

 my specimens prevents me from deciding. A specimen from the Catawba 

 of seven lb. weight had a relatively larger head, and was otherwise stouter 

 than the above described. D. 1.13 ; scales 6—43—5. The fish is common 

 in that river, and equally so in the Yadkin. Those from the latter have 

 D. 'XII ; muzzle not prominent ; head and body rather elongate ; shaded 

 with yellow, particularly on sides of head ; fins orange. It will be observed 

 that the eastern fish agree in having D. 12 soft rays. 



71. Pttchostomus lachykmalis, Cope. 

 Spec. nov. 



This species is quite near the last, and may at some future day be shown 

 to be only a local variety of it, but in this case Pt. macrolepidotus must 



