PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM Vol. 95 Washington: 1944 No. 3181 THE FISHES OF THE FAMILY CHARACINIDAE FROM VENEZUELA, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF SEVENTEEN NEW FORMS By Leonard P. Schultz ^ This report on the family Characinidae is the second contribution on the fishes of Venezuela resulting from my expedition to that country to study the fish fauna, mostly of the Maracaibo Basin, in February through May 1942. This work was undertaken at the invitation of Dr. Guillermo Zuloaga, assistant chief of explorations. Standard Oil Co. of Venezuela, now the Creole Petroleum Corporation, and was made possible through the cooperation of the Smithsonian Institution and the Department of State. I was a guest at the camps of the Standard Oil Co. of Venezuela and of the Lago Petroleum Corporation, Lago de Maracaibo, and to the officials of these companies grateful acknowledgment is made for their help and hospitality. The previous report,^ which treated the 12 families of catfishes, or bagre, reported from Venezuela, gave the details of my itinerary and a hst of the stations where specimens were collected. These data apply as well to the present paper. The map of the Maracaibo Basin, showing collecting locahties visited and other localities recorded, is reproduced on page 367, figure 56. In all, 8,342 specimens of characins were collected in the Maracaibo Basin and in other Venezuelan localities, and these form the basis of ' Drawings of the new fishes reproduced herein were made by Mrs. Aime M. Awl, artist, U. S. National Museum. ' Proc. U. S. Nat. Mas., vol. 94, pp. 173-338, 5 figs., 14 pis., 1944. 235
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