Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . s have an ap-pearance somewhat intermediate betweenchubs and gilas; the head is long, the snoutprolonged, and the mouth deeply cleft andalmost horizontal, thus somewhat resemb-ling a pike whose name has been usurpedfor it by some of the inhabitants of itscountry. In accordance with its largemouth are the pharyngeal bones and teeth,the former elongate, the latter sharp-pointed and species are generally recognized. The largest of the American Cyprinids belong to the genusPtychocheilus, one inhabiting the Colorado river {P. Indus), beinglo
Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . s have an ap-pearance somewhat intermediate betweenchubs and gilas; the head is long, the snoutprolonged, and the mouth deeply cleft andalmost horizontal, thus somewhat resemb-ling a pike whose name has been usurpedfor it by some of the inhabitants of itscountry. In accordance with its largemouth are the pharyngeal bones and teeth,the former elongate, the latter sharp-pointed and species are generally recognized. The largest of the American Cyprinids belong to the genusPtychocheilus, one inhabiting the Colorado river {P. Indus), beinglocally known as the salmon, and another ( oregonensis) ofOregon and the Sacramento river being dubbed the pike or squaw fish ; the former sometimes attains a length of five feetand a weight of eighty pounds and the latter is not very muchsmaller. They are rapacious animals with larger mouths than arepossessed by any other American Cyprinids. Both are common Fig. 68. — Pharyngealbones and tooth of Pty-chocheilus major. SAW ^^ Fig. 69.—Ptychocheilus oregonensis. After Jordan and Evermann. fishes in their respective regions and held in some esteem as market-able fishes. In Oregon, the species of its great river is very highlyesteemed by the Indians, and is a rival in their favor of the salmons,and hence has been designated as the squaw-fish, a name which gill] NOTEWORTHY EXTRA-EUROPEAN CYPRINIDS 317 has indeed come into quite general use. In the Sacramento basin,other names, besides pike, according to Jordan and Evermann,are chub, pig-mouth, box-head, yellow-belly and chappaul. A genus of the same general group and having the same form asthe preceding is Pogonichthys, so named because, unlike all the
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