200 FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



county, in extreme southern Illinois. It is also reported from 

 Wisconsin, from the Tippecanoe River in Indiana, from the 

 Arkansas River, and from the streams of the lower part of the 

 Missouri basin as far west as Kansas. 



SCHILBEODES MIURUS (Jordan) 



BRINDLED STONECAT 

 (Pl., p. 196; Map LIX) 



Jordan, 1877, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. T., Vol. XI, 371 (Noturus). 



J. & G., 99 (Noturus); M. V., 42 (Noturus); J. & E., I, 148; N., 50 (Noturus mar- 

 ginatus); J., 68 (Noturus); F., 84 (Noturus); L., 10. 



Body broad anteriorly, though scarcely robust; slender and compressed 

 posteriorly; depth 4.6 to 5.6 in length; profile rather steep and nearly straight. 

 Length 33^2 inches. Color grayish with black specks and larger blotches; 

 the back crossed by more or less definite saddle-like blotches of black, one 

 before dorsal, one behind it, one on adipose, and a fainter one at base of 

 caudal, the last blotch but one extending into adipose fin to its edge; tip of 

 dorsal, caudal, and anal blackish. Head wide and extremely depressed 

 anteriorly, much higher l)ehind; interorbital space flat, 2.1 to 2.5 in head; 

 length of head 3.5 to 3.9 in body, width 3.9 to 4.3; upper jaw a little longer 

 than lower; maxillary barbels hardly reaching gill-openings; eye large, 4.3 

 to 5 in head. Dorsal fin higher than long, its distance from snout 2.6 to 2.8 

 in length; the spine long, more than half the height of the fin. Notch bet-vyeen 

 adipose and caudal usually deep and acute, the caudal tapering terminally. 

 Anal short, the rays 13 to 15. Pectoral spines long, 1.5 to 1.8 in head, much 

 curved; the basal % of anterior edge very finely serrate, the posterior margin 

 with 6 to 8 strong hooks, whose length is more than half the diameter of the 

 spine; humeral process short. ^ 



In our Illinois collections this species has been taken but 30 

 times, and, with a single exception, from localities in the eastern 

 part of the state on the tributaries of the Wabash and the Ohio. 

 It has occurred once in the extreme headwaters of the Kaskas- 

 kia, in close proximity to upper branches of the Embarras, in 

 which we have found it several times. It contrasts, however, 

 in distribution with Noturus flavus, occupying those parts of 

 the state which the former does not penetrate. Indeed, these 

 two species have been taken together in only one of our collec- 

 tions. It agrees closely with flavus in its ecological preferences, 

 being, like that species, found only in running streams (but 

 most abundantly in creeks) and absent, so far as our observations 

 go, from standing waters. It likewise agrees with flavus in its 

 preference for a clean bottom and a swift current. The relations 

 of these two species to each other, and of both to Schilbeodes 



