FAT HEAD. 839 



Habitat, New Jersey to the Upper Misaouri and soathward * 



Diagnosis. — This is the only silvery large-scaled minnow found in 

 Ohio, which has long intestines and black peritoneum. 



Habits . — This graceful species is found in abundance in the small 

 streams flowing into the Ohio River. It is rare in the interior, and 

 probably seeks the river channels. Its breeding habits are unknown to 

 me, and the males and females are similarly colored, and do not develop 

 horny tubercles. In the Potomac River, what I consider to be the same 

 species, is used for food, being sold with its relative, Hudsonms storerianus, 

 under the name of Smelt. 



Gbnus 28. PIMEPHALES. Eafioesque. 



Pimephalea, Eafinesque, loh. Ohiensis, 1820, 52. 

 Type, Pimephales promelas, Rafiaesqne. 

 Etymology, pimeles, fat ; kephale, head. 



Body short and stout, little compressed ; head short and rounded ; mouth small, in- 

 ferior; upper j aw protractile ; no barbels ; teeth 4-4 with grinding surface, not strongly 

 hooked ; dorsal over ventrals, its first rudimentary ray separated from the rest by a 

 membrane; anal basis short; intestinal canal elongate ; peritoneum black ; scales rather 

 small ; lateral line incomplete. 



Small fish of American waters. In all the known species there is a black blotch on the 

 dorsal fin in front, about half way up. The breeding males have the head swollen and 

 black, and the snout armed with a few disproportionately large nuptial tubercles. 



63. Pimephales promelas Rafinesque. 



Fat Head; Black Head. 



Pimephales promelas, Rafinesque, Ich. Oh., 1820, 94. — Kirtlanb, Kept. Zool. Ohio, 1838, 

 191 ; Host. Journ. Nat. Hist., iii, 1838, 475.— Storer, Synopsis, 1846, 418.— Agassiz, 

 Amer. Journ. Sci. Arts, 1855, 230 — Pdtnam, Ball. M. C. Z , 1863, 8.— Gunthkb, Cat. 

 Fishes, vii, 1868, 181,— Jordan, Ind. Geol. Sorv.. 1874, 224 ; Bull. Buff. Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., 1876, 91 ; Man. Vert., 1876, 275 ; 2d Ed., 1878, 288, and of writers generally. 



Pimephales fas<Aatua, Girard, Proc Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila , 1856, 180 ; Pac. R. R. Snrv., x, 

 234. 



Plargyrus melanooephalus, Abbott, Proc. Phila. Aoad. Sci., 1860, 325. 



Pimephales milesii, Cope, Proc. Aoad. Sci. Phila , 1864, 232. — Gunther, Cat. Fishes, vii, 

 1868, 181,— Jordan, Man. Vert., 1876, 276. , 



Pimephales agassizii, Copa, Cyp. Penn., 1866, 391. 



Description. — Body very short and deep, head short, and everywhere convex, almost 

 globular in .adalt males; mouth small, inferior, horizontal; scales deep, closely imbri- 

 cated ; olivaceous, the dorsal with a large black bar across it, nearly halfway up, most 

 distinct anteriorly, appearing as a simple dusky shade in young ; male fish dusky, the 



"As here defined , more than one species may be included, but if so, the. author is unable 

 to distinguish them. 



