June 20.
This day I examined two nondescript species of fish, belonging to the genus Cyprinus. The first is called Stemma (Cyprinus Grislagine). Its head is oblong and obtuse, black on the top, silvery at the sides, and white beneath. The back of the fish is also blackish; its sides of a shining silvery hue; the belly white. Eyes round and white, their irides dotted, especially the upper part, which is moreover marked with a large verdigrise-green spot just above the black pupil. Nostrils round, accompanied with a pair of smaller roundish orifices. Mouth without teeth. Tongue blunt. Lower jaw a little the shortest; that part which covers the gills consisting of five connected, obtuse, not spinous, rays on each side. Dorsal fin solitary, of ten rays, the first of which is very short and undivided; the second twice as long, but likewise simple; each of the rest twice forked, except the tenth, which is only ob
scurely cloven. Tail forked, acute, of eighteen rays, one of which on each side is very long and simple, the others gradually shorter, twice forked, some of them still more subdivided. Anal fin of eleven rays, like those of the dorsal one, the external ones longest, as in that, both fins appearing forked when unexpanded. Ventral fins of nine rays each, one of them long and simple, the rest, as in the foregoing, gradually shorter, the last being cloven. These fins are not forked when unexpanded. Brachial (or pectoral) fins of seventeen rays like those of the foregoing, except that each is much shorter than its preceding neighbour, the ultimate one being scarcely discernible. Scales in seventeen rows on each side, including the dorsal and ventral rows in each reckoning, otherwise only fifteen. In the tenth row the lateral line is marked by a minute ovate-oblong dot on each scale of a silvery white, so that there are about fifty such dots on each side. The dorsal fin is blackish, the
rest pale, the ventral ones very slightly yellowish.
The whole length is two palms and five lines.
From the nose to the dorsal fin three inches.
Base of the dorsal fin eight lines; its length thirteen lines.
From that fin to the tail three inches and five lines.
Length of the tail one inch and four lines; its diameter at the base seven lines.
From each point to the fork ten lines.