FISHES OF TEXAS AND THE RIO GRANDE BASIN. 
95 
LIST OF FISHES KNOWN FROM TEXAS AND THE BASIN OF THE RIO GRANDE. 
Ill the following pages we give a list of all the species so far known to occur in 
this region. In connection with each species are given all the Texas and Rio Grande 
localities from which it has been recorded, together with the name of the writer so 
recording it and the year in which the paper was published. Whenever the name 
under which it was recorded is not that which is now accepted as the tenable name 
for the species, it is given in parenthesis, with the authority for it. New species are 
indicated by the word type in connection with its specific name. Locality references 
have usually been given in the exact words of the original authority; when the exact 
words have not been used, the change made has not been such as to change the sense 
in the least. The types of most of these species (such as are described from that 
region) are in the U. S. National Museum. These have all been examined by us, and 
the species recognized in this paper are such as appear to us to be valid after having 
not only studied all the types available, but practically all the collections from that 
region now in the National Museum. A number of Girard’s types can not now be 
found, and our identification of some of those species may be erroneous. 
With regard to its fresh- water fishes, Texas is chiefly remarkable for the abundance 
of species in its lowland streams. A large proportion of its species are confined 
chiefly or almost wholly to the streams of the narrow strip known as the Coast Plain 
region. The lower portions of the larger streams crossing this teem with many 
species of valued food-fishes, such as the channel cat, chuckle-headed cat, mud cat 
buffalo, large-mouthed black bass (the “trout” of the South), various species of 
sunfishes, and the fresh-water drum. The amount of fish of these kinds brought to 
the Houston market, principally from the San Jacinto and Trinity, is very great, and 
these, together with the salt-water species received from and about the mouth of 
these rivers, make the Houston fish-market one of the most important in the South. 
The coast of Texas is also remarkable for the number of brackish- water species, the 
single family of Cyprinodontidce being represented by at least 19 species, most of 
which are found only near the coast. Of the 230 species of fishes given in this paper, 
46 were added to the known Texas fauna through the explorations of Jordan and 
Gilbert, and 42 were added by our own investigations in 1891. With few exceptions, 
the remaining species were first collected in this region during the Mexican Boundary 
and Pacific Railroad surveys. 
I.— GALEORHINIDiE. THE TYPICAL SHARKS. 
1. Carcharhinus platyodon (Poey). Shovel-nosed Shark. Galveston (Jordan & Gilbert, 1882). 
This is said to be the commonest of the large sharks on the coast of Texas in summer. The 
jaws of another species of Carcharhinus were gotten by Dr. Jordan at Galveston, which has 
not yet been identified with certainty. 
II. — PRISTIDIDA3. THE SAWFISHES. 
2. Pristis pectinatus Latham. Sawfish. Obtained by Dr. Jordan at Galveston. 
III. -DASYATIDiE. THE STINGRAYS. 
3. Dasabatis sayi (Le Sueur). Southern Stingray; Whipparee; Whipray. Two young specimens 
were obtained by me at Shamrock Point, Corpus Christi, November 28. 
4. Trigon sabina (Le S.). Stingray; Stingaree. Galveston (Jordan & Gilbert, 1882). 
