diff --git a/pygam/tests/test_GAM_params.py b/pygam/tests/test_GAM_params.py
index 40029a16..5cd76e85 100644
--- a/pygam/tests/test_GAM_params.py
+++ b/pygam/tests/test_GAM_params.py
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ def test_n_splines_not_int(self, mcycle_X_y):
         """
         used to fail for n_splines of type np.int64, as returned by np.arange
         """
+        X, y = mcycle_X_y
         gam = LinearGAM(n_splines=np.arange(9,10)[0]).fit(X, y)
         assert gam._is_fitted