806 FISHES — CATOSTOMID^. 



taries in company with the species of Bubalichthys and Oarpiodes. It 

 reaches a considerable size, a well grown specimen weighing )5 to 25 

 pounds. It is used everywhere as food, and sells readily, but the flesh is 

 full of small bones, scarcely worth the picking. According to Professor 

 Forbes it feeds chiefly on Entomostracans. 



Gbnus 15. BUBALICHTHYS. Agaasiz. 



Bubalichtkys, Agassiz, Am. Journ. Sci. Arts. 18;5, 92. 

 Selerognathus, Gunthbr, Cat. Fishes, Brit. Mus , vii, p. 22, 1668. 

 Catostomus et Carpiodes, sp. of anthors. 



Type, Carpiodes uras, Agassiz. 



Etymology, houbalos, buffalo ; icIUhus, fish. 



Head moderate or rather large, deep and thick, its superior outline rapidly rising, its 

 length about four in that of the body ; eye moderate, median or rather anterior in posi- 

 tion ; suborbital bones comparatively narrow ; fontanelle always present and widely 

 open ; month moderate or small, more or less inferior, the mandible short, little oblique, 

 or typically quite horizontal, the mandible less than one-third the length of the head ; 

 the premaxiUaries in the closed mouth below the l-ivel of the lower part of the orbit; 

 lips rather thin, thicker than in IcMliyotus, the upper protractile, narrow, plicate, the 

 plicae sometimes broken up into granules ; lower lip comparatively fall (for a Buffalo- 

 fish), faintly plicate, the plicae broken up into granules, the lower lip having the general 

 Q-ehaped form seen in Carpiodes ; jaws without cartilaginous sheath ; muoiferous system 

 well developed ; opercular apparatus well developed, but less so than in lehtkt/ohus, the 

 operculum strongly rugose ; isthmus moderate ; pharyngeal bones triangular, with large 

 teeth, which increase in sizs froji above downward; teeth compressed, their grinding 

 edge blunt, slightly arched in the middle, and provided with a little cusp along the 

 inner margin, which is hardly detached from the crown, and does not rise above the 

 surface ; gill-rakers of anterior arch slender and stiff above, growing shorter downward ; 

 body ovate or oblong, the dorsal outline more or less arched, the sides of the body com- 

 pressed, the ventral outline curved also, but to a less degree ; scales very large, about 

 equal over the body, their posterior outlines somewhat serrate ; lateral line well deve- 

 loped, nearly straight, with 35 to 42 scales, 12 to 14 in a cross-series from ventrals to 

 dorsal; dorsal fin beginning near the middle of the body, somewhat in advance of the 

 ventrals, its anterior rays elevated, their height about equal to half the base of the fin, 

 the number of rays in the dorsal fin ranging from 25 to 32 ; caudal fin well forked, the 

 lobes about equal, not falcate ; anal fin comparatively long and rather low, of eight or 

 ujne developed rays; ventrals moderate, 10 rayed; pectorals rather short; sexual 

 peculiarities, if any, unknown; coloration dull dark-brown, nearly plain, not silvery; 

 fins olivaceous or more or less dusky ; air-bladder with two chambers ; size quite large. 



In general appeal ance, the species of Buialiohthys bear a considerable resemblance to 

 those of Carpiodes. The form is, however, coarser than that of any Carpiodes, the dorsal 

 fin is lower, and the coloration is darker and duller. The species reach a larger size 

 than do those of Carpiodes, but whether larger or not than the species of leWiyobus I am 

 unable to say. In external appearance, Buhaliohihys is intermediate between Carpiodes 

 and Ichthyobus, the one species, bubalus, resembling Carpiodes most, the other, urus, 

 being most like Ichthyobus. 



