588 MSHES. 



without blind sac. Pyloric appendages none. Mouth tooth- 

 less ; lower pharyngeal bones well developed, falciform, sub- 

 parallel to the branchial arches, provided with teeth, which are 

 arranged in one, two, or three series. Air-bladder large, divided 

 into an anterior and posterior portion by a constriction, or into 

 a right or left portion, enclosed in an osseous capsule. Ovarian 

 sacs closed. 



The family of " Carps " is the one most numerously repre- 

 sented in the fresh waters of the Old "World and of ISTorth 

 America. Also numerous fossil remains are found in tertiary 

 freshwater-formations, as in the limestones of Oeningen and 

 Steinheim, in the lignites of Bonn, Stochen, Bilin, and Menat, 

 in the marl slates and carbonaceous shales of Licata in Sicily, 

 and of Padang in Sumatra, in corresponding deposits of Idaho 

 in North America. The majority can be referred to existing 

 . genera : Barbus, Thynnichthys, Gobio, Leuciscus, Tinea, Ambly- 

 pharyngodon, Rliodeus, Cobitis, Acanthopsis, only a few show- 

 ing characters different from those of living genera : Cyclurus, 

 Hexapsephus, Mylocyprinus (tertiary of North America). 



Most Carps feed on vegetable and animal substances ; 

 a few only are exclusive vegetable feeders. There is much 

 less diversity of form and habits in this family than in the 

 Siluroids ; however, the genera are sufficiently numerous to 

 demand a further subdivision of the family into groups. 



I. Catostomina. — Pharyngeal teeth in a single series, ex- 

 ceedingly numerous and closely set. Dorsal fin elongate, oppo- 

 site to the ventrals ; anal short, or of moderate length. Barbels 

 none. 



These fishes are abundant in the lakes and rivers of North 

 America, more than thirty species having be^n described, and 

 many more named, by American ichthyologists. Two species 

 are known from North-Eastern Asia. They are generally 

 called " Suckers," but their vernacular nomenclature is very 



