266 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 187 



taken in the Mississippi River and its tributaries near the mouth of 

 the Arkansas: 



There was a fish called **bagre," a third of which was head ; and it had large 

 spines like a sharp shoemaker's awl at either side of its throat and along the 

 sides. Those of them which were in the water were as large as a "pico." In 

 the river, there were some of one hundred and one hundred and fifty pounds. 

 Many of them were caught with the hook. Another fish resembled the "barbell" ; 

 and others were like the "choupa," with a head like that of the "besugo" and 

 between russet and brown. This was the one that was most relished. There 

 was another fish called the "pexe palla." Its snout was a cubit in length and 

 the tip of its upper lip was shaped like a shovel. There was another fish which 

 resembled a shad. All had scales except the "bagres" and the "pexe palla." 

 There was another fish which the Indians brought sometimes, of the size of a 

 hog, called "pexe pereo." It had rows of teeth below and above. (Robertson, 

 1933, vol. 2, pp. 175-176.) 



In 1933 Dr. Lewis Radcliffe, Acting Commissioner of the Bureau of 

 Fisheries, supplied Dr. James A. Robertson with the following note 

 regarding the fish mentioned by Elvas, to accompany the latter's 

 translation of that work : 



The lagre no doubt refers to a species of catfish. Judging by the large size 

 of the fish and its large head, as described, it was most likely the mud catfish, 

 Leptops oUvaris. However, there is also a possibility that the author had in 

 mind the blue catfish, Ictalurus furcatus. Indeed, both species might have been 

 seen in the vicinity, since both are of a large size and quite common in the rivers 

 draining into the Gulf of Mexico. The word l)arl)o is used in Spanish and French 

 for several species of fresh-water fish. The British name for those species is 

 "barbel." The species to which these names are applied are widespread 

 throughout Europe, including Portugal. Judging from the distribution of the 

 species and the similarity of the names in England, France, and Spain, it seems 

 quite likely that the name harl)o is also applied in Portugal to the same fishes. 

 None of the species of the barbels occur in American waters, but our species of 

 suckers resembles in general appearance the European barbels, and to a lesser 

 extent the same may be said in regard to our buffalo fishes. There are several 

 species of suckers and buffalo fishes in American waters ; but from the author's 

 statement it is impossible to assert which one of these he had in mind. In a 

 list of the common fishes in Portuguese, the name choupa is applied to Sargus 

 rondeletti and "besugo to Pagellus acarne. Neither of these species, both of 

 which are spiny-rayed fishes, occurs in the waters of the United States. The 

 Portuguese choupa is shaped something like our bream and the "besugo resembles 

 our black bass. Since the author evidently described only the larger fishes, two 

 possibilities suggest themselves: he had in mind either the black bass (and in 

 some of them, especially in large specimens, the body is fairly deep) or the fresh- 

 water drum. Since he states that it was the "most relished," he probably had in 

 mind the large-mouthed black bass, Micropterus salmoides. The pexe palla was 

 undoubtedly the spoonbill, Polyodon spatula. The description of the snout 

 combined with the lack of scales, as stated by the author, applies to no other 

 American species, and it fairly characterizes the spoonbill. The name savel (plu- 

 ral sav^s) is applied to two species of European shad, Alosa alosa and Alosa finta. 

 A species of shad, Alosa alabama, occurs in the Gulf drainage, although it is now 

 quite rare. The author may have seen this or one or two other fishes, namely, 

 the gizzard shad, Dorosoma cepedianum, and the menhaden, Brevoortia patronus. 



