198 FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



Florida peninsula and through the valleys of the Missouri and 

 Ohio to the Tombigbee River in Alabama. 



Though the commonest of the stonecats in Illinois, it is 

 nevertheless not usually distinguished by fishermen, and has no 

 generally accepted common name. Like the other species of 

 this name, it is provided with poison glands, placed just beneath 

 the epidermis surrounding the spines of the pectoral and dorsal 

 fins, and the wound from either of these spines is little less 

 painful than a bee's sting. These glands are ductless, and the 

 poison which they secrete is only liberated when the epidermis 

 of the spine is torn. 



The food of 13 specimens examined, consisted almost wholly 

 of amphipod and isopod Crustacea, of various forms of Ento- 

 mostraca, and of insect larvae (case-worms, day-flies, and gnats) 

 of kinds likelj^ to be found on the bottom. A single specimen 

 had eaten a small fish, and another a planarian worm. 



Males and females taken by us June 8 were already spent, 

 and the spawning season probably falls in May. 



This little fish is too small to be used for any purpose except 

 as bait. It is said to be very tenacious of life, and to serve as 

 an excellent bait for black bass, against which its formidable 

 defensive apparatus evident^ does not protect it. 



SCHILBEODES NOCTURNUS (Jordan & Gilbeet) 



FEECKLED STONECAT 



(Pl., p. 196) 



Jordan & Gilbert, 1886, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 6 (Noturus). 

 J. «& E., I, 146; L... 10. 



Moderately robust, but less so than in >S. gyrinus, the head narrower 

 forward and the profile less steep than in that species; depth 4.8 to 5.1 in 

 length. Size small, not found over 3 inches. Color a uniform dark brown, 

 thickly and rather coarsely flecked with black, except on breast and belly; 

 dorsal, adipose, caudal, and anal fins specked with black much as body, but 

 with narrow edgings of pale. Head short and moderately broad, its length 

 3.8 to 4.1 in body, its greatest width in opercular region, narrower forward, 

 4.3 to 4.6 in body; interorbital space 1.9 to 2.4 in head; eye moderate, 4.8 to 

 6 in head; upper jaw longer than lower; barbels short and robust, the maxil- 

 lary pair falling considerably short of gill-openings. Distance from snout to 

 dorsal 2.8 to 3 in length; dorsal spine short, scarcely half the height of fin, 2.4 

 to 3.4 in head. Caudal long and somewhat tapered terminally. Anal fin 

 short, of 15 to 16 rays, Pectoral spine moderate, its length 2 to 2.1 in head, 

 slender towards base and widening outward, the tip acute; the upper surface 

 comparatively flat and the diagonal grooves inconspicuous; the anterior edge 



