HARE-LIP SUCKER. 833 
the dorsal; body slender; dorsal fin low ; color olivaceous or bluish-brown above ; sides 
and belly silvery; lower fins faintly orange; head 43; depth 43; D. 12; A.7; V.9; 
scales 5-45-5. Length 1 to 14 feet. 
Habitat, Ohio Valley. 
Diagnosis.—This species will be known at sight frorn the fact that its 
under jaw is “hare-lipped,” i.e. the fleshy lip is split to the bone. 
Habits—This species was first taken by Professor Brayton and the 
writer in Chickamauga River in Georgia, a tributary of the Tennessee. 
Later, we obtained a third specimen in Elk River, Tennessee. In April, 
1878, much to my surprise, a fine large specimen was sent to me by Mr. 
J. H. Klippart of the Ohio State Fish Commission. This specimen was 
taken in the Scioto River, and Mr. Klippart tells us that the species is 
well known to the fishermen at Columbus, who call the fish “ May 
Sucker,” as it spawns in May. That so conspicuous a species should so 
long have eluded the ichthyologists in tne Ohio Basin, is extremely re- 
markable. The habits of this species are doubtless similar to those of 
allied Red Horse. 
IAN IMEIC Ty YE IO | CNC IR Te LIN LEAD) vat Abell CAI IES. 
Cyprinoid fishes with the margin of the upper jaw formed by the premaxillaries alone, 
’ and the lower pharyugeal bones well developed, falciferm, nearly parallel with the gill 
arches, each provided with one tothree series of teeth in small number, from three to 
seven in the main row, and a less number in the others; head naked; body almost 
always scaly; barbels two or four (absent in most of our genera and not large in any); 
belly usuuslly rounded, rarely compressed, never serrated; gill openings moderate, 
separated by an isthmus; no adipose fin; dorsal fin short in American species (elongate 
in many old world forms); ventral fins abdominal; air-bladder usually large, commonly 
divided into an anterior and posterior jobve, rarely wanting; stomach without append- 
ages, appearing aS a simple enlargement of the intestine. Fishes of moderate or small 
size, inhabiting the fresh waters of the old world and of North America. Genera about 
two hundred; species nearly a thousand; excessively abundant where found, both in 
individuals and in species, and trom their great uniformity in size, form and coloration, 
eonstituting one of the most difficult groups in Natural History in which to distinguish 
genera and species. The genera found in Ohio, with the exceptions of Campostoma, 
Hxoglossum, Chrosemus, and few others, are all very closely related, and are separated by 
characters which, though reasonably constant, are often difficult to determine. From 
time to time different authors have proposed to throw most of these small genera into the 
genus Leuciscus, a procedure, which, without further discussion, may be said to have 
always led to confusion. The spring or breeding dress of the male fishes is often pecu- 
liar. The top of the head and often the fins, or various portions of the body are covered 
with small tubercles, outgrowths from the epidermis. The fins and parts of the body 
in young spring males are often charged with bright pigment, the prevaling color of 
which is red, although in some genera it is satin-white, yellow, or black. 
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