212 
U. S, P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS-ZOOLOGY—GENERAL REPORT. 
An olivaceous tint pervades throughout, rather brownish above and whitish beneath. 
Inferences to the figures .—Plate XLI, fig. 1, represents, size of life, a specimen of Pimelodus 
olivaceus, caught in the Yellowstone river. Fig. 2 is a view from above. Fig. 3, the head 
seen from beneath. 
Plate XLII represents the same species, size of life, from Fort Pierre, Nebraska. The mouth 
as delineated in fig. 3 is a good deal too small, by a mistake of the draughtsman. The anal and 
adipose fins in fig. 1 are likewise somewhat incorrectly drawn. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
No. of 
specs. 
Age. 
Locality. 
When 
collected 
Whence obtained. 
Orig’l 
No. 
Nature o 
specs. 
Collected by— 
906 
5 
Ad’lt & Y’g 
Fort Pierre, Nebraska. __... 
1853 
Dr. John Evans - 
Alcoholi- 
Dr. Evans__ 
907 
2 
Adult .... 
Milk river, Missouri_ 
1853 
Gov. I. I. Stevens 
... _ 
_do... 
Dr. Geo. Suckley. 
908 
1 
...do. 
Yellowstone, Nebraska_ 
1854 
Col. A. Vaughan. 
— 
_do. _ 
Dr. F. V. Hayden 
909 
6 
Young _ 
Near the mouth of Poteau river. 
1853 
Dr G. G. Shumard 
— 
_do— 
Dr.G. G. Shumard 
910 
1 
_do_ 
Arkansas river, near Fort Smith. 
1853 
_do_ 
_do 
_do_ 
911 
1 
_do. 
Nebraska. .... 
1856 
Mr. Walker. 
12 
...do... 
Mr. Walker. 
Family CYPRINIDAE. 
With a few exceptions 1 the mouth is hut little cleft, and the jaws weak and toothless, the upper 
one being formed exclusively by the premaxillaries, behind which the maxillaries are situated. 
The interior pharyngeal hones are armed with quite large teeth, the upper pharyngeals 
being wanting. The base of the cranium, which corresponds to the inferior pharyngeals, ex¬ 
hibits a process of the skull, in most cases covered with a horny plate. The body is generally 
elongated, covered with scales, cycloid in structure 2 . One dorsal fin, occasionally provided at 
its anterior margin with a stout and strong spiny ray, but there is no adipose. The stomach 
has no cul-de-sac (cceca), and pyloric appendages are also wanting. The swimming or air 
bladder is in most cases divided into an anterior and a posterior portion, and is furthermore 
connected with the organ of hearing through a chain of so-called auditive bones. The external 
surface of the swimming or air bladder is remarkable for the tail-like distribution of its blood 
vessels. There are four complete branchial arches, the accessory gills (pseudo-branchiae) vary¬ 
ing according to the genera ; sometimes they are gill-like, comb-like, or even glandulous, in 
which latter case they are covered by the mucous membrane of the branchial apertures ; at 
others they appear to be entirely missing. 
Syn. — Cyprins, Cuv. Regn. Anim. II, 1817, 190. 
Cyprinoides, Ccv. Regn. Anim., 2d ed. II, 1829; and, ed. Illustr. Poiss. 214.—Ccv. & Val. Hist. nat. Poiss. 
XVI, 1842, 1. 
Cyprinidae, Bonap. Sagg. distr. anim. vertebr. 1831, 113— De Kay, New Y. Fauna, IV, 1842, 188.—Storer, 
Synops. 1846, 154. 
Cyprinoideae, Richards. Faun. Bor. Amer. Ill, 1836, 109 
Cyprinoidei ^Agass.), Mull. in Wtigm Archiv. fur Naturgesch. I, 1843, 319. 
We had contemplated giving more copious details respecting the species of this family than 
1 Ptychocheilus and Clinostomus . 
3 Except Aulopygt and Mtda, which are scaleless. 
