No. VI.
NOTICES OF THE FISHES,
B Y
JOHN RICHARDSON, M.D.,
S U R G E O N T O T H E E X P E D I T I O N .
I n the following pages I have been led to give much more detailed descriptions of
some of the fish, observed by the Expedition, than may at first sight appear to be
necessary ; because I wished to put Ichthyologists in possession of as many facts as I
could, respecting species which may not soon come under the notice of another
observer. I was also desirous of enabling those who are versant in this branch of
Natural History, to decide whether they may, or may not, have been already described
by other authors ; a point on which my own opinion is of little value. The descriptions,
except in one or two instances, which are noted, were taken upon the spot, from
recent specimens. The disadvantages under which we frequently laboured in doing
this, will be apparent to those who have read the Narrative of the Journey; and
will, I hope, be esteemed a sufficient excuse for diffuseness on the one hand, and
omissions on the other. The scale of colours used in the descriptions is most generally
that of Werner.
Petromyzon Fluvialis, L. Lesser Lamprey.
A lamprey, bearing an exact resemblance in size and appearance to the one
figured by Bloch, t. ccccxv. f. 2., under the name of P. argenteus (and which
Cuvier, Reg. An. tom. ii. p. 118, considers to be the same with P. fluvialis,)
was found in Great Slave Lake, adhering to an inconnu, (salmo Mackenzii.) It
had the large eyes, and, comparatively, large mouth, represented in Bloch’s figure,
with the teeth of the P. fluvialis. The size of its eyes would seem to mark it as a
young fish.
Acmpensei' Ruthenus, L. Sterlet.
Cuvier R ig . A n. ii. p. 142. G m el Lin. Syst. N at. p. 1485. Bloch, t. 89.
Pennant's A rctic Zoology, ii. p. 358*
Accipens&re Strelet, Lacepede, tom. i. p. 434.
This fish, termed Nameyoo by the Cree Indiaris, is caught in great abundance in
the Saskatchawan, but is not known to exist in the more northerly rivers, that
4 X