LEPOMIS SUN FISHES 



249 



ventral ; depth 2 . 1 to 2 . 5 in length, usually about 2.2. Color olivaceous, 

 taking on a yellowish or coppery tinge below; each scale with a spot of 

 emerald-green, the spots fomiing more or less distinct rows, most evident 

 on the caudal peduncle; sides marked with seven or eight vertical bars of 

 dusky, gradually fading backward; two spots of emerald-green in front of 

 eye and one just behind it; three or four wavy lines of same color on 

 cheek below eye, two or three of them continued backward across opercle; 

 iris red; bony portion of gill-flap very dark green to blackish, with poste- 

 rior edging of darker; membranous margin of flap coppery to purplish, 

 the color strongest on lower posterior portion; fins all dusky, pectorals 

 least so; soft dorsal and anal with large black blotch at base of last rays, 

 the former with a very narrow outer margin of whitish ; anal very dark 

 at base, paler outward, and edged below with rich yellow or orange; 

 ventrals dusky near base, paler behind. Head 2 .4 to 3 in length, broad 

 and flat above; the profile rather long and usually quite straight, becom- 

 ing slightly angled above eye in old speci- 

 mens ; eve 3 . 8 to 5 . 2 in head, usually about 

 5 in adults; mouth verv^ large, lower jaw 

 projecting beyond upper; maxillary ex- 

 tending to middle of orbit, 2 to 2.5 in 

 head; supplemental maxillary well de- 

 veloped; teeth present on vomers and 

 palatines; lower pharyngeals narrow but 

 strong, the teeth long and bluntly acumi- 

 nate; flexible margin of opercular flap 

 fleshy, broad behind and below, narrower 

 above; gill-rakers long and stiff, the longest 

 fully h diameter of eye. Dorsal IX or X, 

 10 to 12, spinous less than half the height 

 of soft portion ; longest dorsal spine 3 to 4 . 2 

 in head, usually about 4 in adults; anal III, 



9 or 10, the spines short and strong; pec- 

 torals short, rounded behind, 1 . 5 to 1 . 7 in 

 head; ventrals reaching to or a little past 

 vent, never to first anal spines. Scales 6 or 

 7, 45-49, 15 or 16; those on cheeks in 7 to 



10 rows. 



Fig. 60 

 Opercular flaps of Lepomis cy- 

 ancUns, one figure entire, the 

 other showing flap denuded 

 of epidermis and fleshy or 

 membranous border. 



This beautiful little sunfish is much 

 the commonest of its family in our smaller streams, and is, indeed, 

 often almost the sole sunfish product of the net in the prairie creeks. 

 Contrasting with the warmouth, it is most abundant in creeks 

 (1.56), and is next so in the smaller rivers (.76). In the larger 

 rivers and in the lowland lakes it occurs sparingly, but it has not 

 been taken by us at all from the clear upland lakes of the glacial 

 deposits, nor from any of the waters of the Michigan drainage. It 

 has occurred in no less than 315 of our collections; that is, in about 

 a fifth of the whole number made. Its preference is for a quiet cur- 

 rent, in wh.ch respect it agrees with the next two species. It is 



