ART. XVIII.-A CATALOGUE OF THE FISHES OF THE FRESH 

 WATERS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



By David S. Jordan, M. D. 



The following catalogue embraces all those species of fishes thus far 

 known to inhabit the fresh waters of North America, including that 

 part of Mexico which is similar in its faunal characteristics to neigh- 

 boring portions of the United States. It may be considered as a new 

 edition of Jordan and Copeland's Check List,* as it covers essentially 

 the same ground. The work has been, however, entirely recast, and 

 brought up to date, so as to include the results of the author's own 

 studies, and those of other writers so far as the latter have been made 

 known. 



The classification, as regards the families and higher groups, is 

 throughout that of Professor Gill. It has seemed best to adopt this 

 arrangement, rather than that of any other author, if for no other rea- 

 son, that the present catalogue may be readily compared with Professor 

 Gill's Catalogue of the Fishes of the East Coast of North America. 



The order of the forms has, however, been reversed, as it seems decid- 

 edly more philosophic to arrange them in an ascending series, begin- 

 ning with the most generalized forms, and ending with those "higher", 

 or more specialized. 



I have included all the species of Sahncnidce, Cyprinodonfidce, Gaste- 

 rosteidce, and of some other groups, members of which inhabit both salt 

 and fresh waters, and I have excluded the Gobiidce, Belonidce, etc., some 

 of which ascend fresh waters from the sea. Any line drawn between 

 fresh-water and salt-water fishes must be- an arbitrary one, and I have 

 preferred to draw it between the Cyprinodonts and the Gobies. 



This list includes all those species which have proved, on full exam- 

 ination, to be valid, in our present understanding of "valid" species, 

 and also such of the dubious or unverified species which appear to have, 

 on balancing the chances, a reasonable probability in their favor. Spe- 

 cies against which the balance of probabilities appears to lie have 

 been generally omitted. In certain genera, chiefly South western^ e. ^r. 

 Cyjprinella, Gila, Notropis, where many species were originally de- 

 scribed in a loose fashion, and where no examination of typical exam- 



* Check List of the Fishes of the Fresh Waters of North America, by David S. Jor- 

 dan and Herbert E. Copeland. < Bulletin Buffalo Society of Natural History, 1876, 

 pp. 133-1G4. 



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