BULLETIN FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM


 His description of Rutilus plargyrus in the same paper shows this
species probably is identical to L. chrysocephalus, despite its assign-
ment to a different genus. The description is accompanied by the
following statement: "I call this genus Rutilus in the supposition that
Cyprinus rutilus may be the type of it; if it should be otherwise, it
may be called Plargyrus."
 In 1817 Mitchill described Cyprinus cornutus from the Hudson
River drainage in New York. This species is not closely related to
the genus Cyprinus, a fact that was soon recognized, and it was as-
signed to the old-world genus, Leuciscus. Agassiz (1854), realizing
that the affinities of cornutus were not with Leuciscus either, erected
a new genus, Hypsolepis (this name has been attributed to Baird),
with cornutus as type species.
 Plargyrus Rafinesque was employed by Girard (1856: 31-32) to
include the species cornutus. Girard states: "Since Rafinesque's genera
are to be restored, his name Plargyrus is to take the precedence over
the genus Hypsolepis of more modern coining. The name of Plargyrus
was provided for in the Ichthyologia Ohiensis, to replace that of
Rutilus in the eventuality that Cyprinus rutilus of Europe, which was
the type of the genus Rutilus, should prove generically distinct from
Rutilus plargyrus and similar American species, and which is the
case." Girard evidently misunderstood the true relationships of Lux-
ilus chrysocephalus, for he regarded this species as a close relative of
Notemigonus crysoleucas, a species with no close relatives among the
North American Cyprinidae.
 Apparently Girard was alone in his use of the name Plargyrus, for
subsequent investigators such as Putnam (1863), Cope (1864, 1867,
1869a, 1869b, 1870, and 1871), Abbott (1870 and 1874), and Jordan
(1875) continued to use Hypsolepis (spelling changed to Hypsilepis
by Cope, 1864) for cornutus and its related forms.
 Jordan (1876a: 94), in his first review of Rafinesque's Ichthyologia
Ohiensis, concluded that both Luxilus chrysocephalus and Rutilus
plargyrus of Rafinesque were synonyms of Hypsilepis cornutus. The
genera Luxilus and Rutilus both were described prior to Hypsilepis,
however, and as Rutilus contains only old-world species not closely
related to N. cornutus, Hypsilepis must obviously be placed in the
synonymy of Luxilus. He made no mention of Girard's (1856) paper
which resurrects Plargyrus as a genus for cornutus.
 Jordan (1882: 852) redefined the genus Luxilus and included in
it "three well-marked subgenera": Luxilus, Coccotis, and Alburnops.
He defined Luxilus as "large species, with the scales very closely im-
bricated, and much deeper than long; the dorsal over the ventrals


Vol. 8