ABRAMIS — BREAMS 127 



it is one of the commonest fishes of Pennsylvania, frequenting 

 sluggish waters and abounding in bayous and weedy ponds 

 where it grows to a length of a foot and a weight of a pound 

 and a half. According to Dr. Jordan, "it is especially character- 

 istic of sluggish waters in either lake, pond, or bayou. In Ohio 

 it is extremely abundant, in the weedy bayous most of all. 

 The yellow pond-lily is its favorite shelter. " 



It has been taken by us in 303 collections, more frequently 

 than an}^ other fish except the blunt-nosed minnow (Pirn ephales 

 notatus), which has appeared in 377. The most notable pecu- 

 liarities of its local and ecological distribution in Illinois are its 

 frequency in lowland lakes and ponds (coefficient, 1.36), and 

 over a muddy bottom (3.79). Our map of the distribution of 

 the Illinois collections of this species shows that, although it is 

 widely distributed throughout the state, occurring in many 

 localities in each of our stream systems, there is a notable differ- 

 ence in the size of the streams which it chiefly inhabits in the 

 southern and eastern parts of the state, where it is essentially a 

 creek species, and in the remainder of the state, where it has been 

 taken chiefly along our larger rivers. It is also very much more 

 abundant in the Wabash basin, the Big Muddy, and the tribu- 

 taries of the Ohio than in any other part of Illinois, appearing 

 there three and four times as frequently to the hundred collec- 

 tions as in the Illinois valley or the streams of northwestern 

 Illinois. 



It has a more efficient equipment of alimentary structures 

 than any other of our common minnows, and a correspondingly 

 wide range of food resources. Its intestine is rather long — one 

 and a third times the length of the head and body together; the 

 gill-rakers are long, fine, and numerous; and the pharyngeal 

 teeth are provided both with terminal hooks and grinding sur- 

 faces. We find its food varying, consequently, according to 

 situation, from a mere mass of mud, to mollusks, insects, 

 Entomostraca, and vegetable substances. Where mollusks are 

 abundant, it sometimes feeds on nothing else; and in ponds 

 containing many minute Crustacea, these may be its sole food 

 One specimen taken from Nippersink Lake, in the northern part 

 of the state, had filled itself with wild rice. Insects, mainly 

 terrestrial, were also eaten by several, and some of the specimens 

 studied, had devoured quantities of algse. 



The golden shiner is said to be an excellent pan-fish, if of 

 sufficient size. It is active all winter, and can be taken through 



