PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 
issued { 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 
U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 
Vol. 95 Washington: 1944 No. 3181 
THE FISHES OF THE FAMILY CHARACINIDAE FROM 
VENEZUELA, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF SEVENTEEN 
NEW FORMS 
By Lronarp P. Scuuutz ! 
Tuts report on the family Characinidae is the second contribution 
on the fishes of Venezuela resulting from my expedition to that country 
to study the fish fauna, mostly of the Maracaibo Basin, in February 
through May 1942. ‘This work was undertaken at the invitation of 
Dr. Guillermo Zuloaga, assistant chief of explorations, Standard Oil 
Co. of Venezuela, now the Creole Petroleum Corporation, and was 
made possible through the cooperation of the Smithsonian Institution 
and the Department of State. I was a guest at the camps of the 
Standard Oil Co. of Venezuela and of the Lago Petroleum Corporation, 
Lago de Maracaibo, and to the officials of these companies grateful 
acknowledgment is made for their help and hospitality. 
The previous report,” which treated the 12 families of catfishes, or 
bagre, reported from Venezuela, gave the details of my itinerary and 
a list of the stations where specimens were collected. These data 
apply as well to the present paper. The map of the Maracaibo Basin, 
showing collecting localities visited and other localities recorded, is 
reproduced on page 367, figure 56. 
In all, 8,342 specimens of characins were collected in the Maracaibo 
Basin cial in other Venezuelan localities, and these form the basis of 
1 Drawings of the new fishes reproduced herein were made by Mrs. Aime M. Awl, artist, U. S. National 
Museum. 
2 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 94, pp. 173-388, 5 figs., 14 pls., 1944. 
235 
