FISHES OF TEXAS AND. THE RIO GRANDE BASIN. 
65 
to dry arroyos The soil and surface rock over extensive areas contain gypsum, salt, 
and other easily soluble minerals. As a result of this and the ease with which the 
surface is eroded, the waters of many of the streams are always more or less alkaline, 
and after heavy rains are heavily laden with solid matter in suspension. These 
freshets, laden with the rich, red loam of the plains, usually reach the lower inhabited 
sections of the plains during their seasons of drought, and are called “red rises.” 
HISTORICAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL. 
So far as we have been able to learn, the first collections of fishes in this region 
for scientific purposes were made by John H. Clark, in 1851. This was under Col. J. 
D. Graham, of the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission. The streams 
in which collections were made by this party in 1851 are chiefly of the Nueces and 
Rio Grande basins. This was followed by the various other parties of the Mexican 
Boundary Survey, the Pacific Railroad Surveys, and by Captains Marcy and McClel- 
lan’s Red River expedition, all of which explorations were completed prior to 1858. 
Each of these expeditions had attached to it one or more persons who officiated as 
naturalist^, each of whom is named in this paper in connection with the consideration 
of the respective collections. Considering the disadvantages under which they labored, 
the collections obtained, especially by Mr. John H. Clark, Dr. C. B. R. Kennedy, Dr. 
George C. Shumard, and Lieut. Couch, are remarkable for their completeness. 
The first of these collections was studied and reported upon by Prof. Spencer F. 
Baird and Dr. Charles Girard, while the later ones were reported upon by Dr. Girard 
alone. The preliminary reports appeared at intervals from 1853 to 1858, in the pro- 
ceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, the final reports appearing in the 
Zoology of the Mexican Boundary and Pacific Railroad surveys. 
The next collection of fishes made in this region was that obtained in Colorado 
by the Hayden Survey in 1872. These were studied by Prof. Cope, whose report was 
published in Hayden’s fifth annual report. 
The various parties of the Wheeler Survey west of the one hundreth meridian 
made extensive collections of fishes in the upper Rio Grande Basin. These were 
reported upon by Prof. E. D. Cope and Dr. H. C. Yarrow. 
In 1878 Dr. Jordan published a paper on a collection made at Brownsville. 
In 1880, in his important paper on the “Zoological Position of Texas,” Prof. Cope 
gives notes on 24 species of fishes, chiefly from the basins of the Trinity, Red, and 
Colorado rivers. Seven of these were described as new. 
In 1881 Prof. Samuel Garman published a short paper on 14 species of the Rio 
Grande basin, 8 of which were regarded by him as new. These specimens are con. 
tained in the collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, but it is not stated 
by Prof. Garman by whom they were collected. 
No collecting of the salt-water fishes of the Texas coast after the time of the Mex- 
ican Boundary surveys was done until 1882, when Dr. Jordan obtained about 50 species 
at Galveston. This was the first considerable collection made on the Texas coast. 
Important collections were made in 1884 by Dr. Jordan and Prof. C. H. Gilbert, 
who obtained over 50 species, many of which were new to the State and 4 new to science. 
This was the largest collection of fresh- water fishes ever made in Texas up to that time. 
In the summer of 1889, during Dr. Jordan’s explorations in Colorado and Utah, 
some collecting was done in the Rio Grande basin near Del Norte and Alamosa, Colo. 
Only 4 species, however, were obtained. 
F. C. B, 1892—5 
