EUPOMOTIS PUMPKINSEED SUNFISH 261 



bluntly rounded or paved; operculum quite firm behind, the bony por- 

 tion distinct from a broad paler fleshy margin; gill-rakers short and 

 soft, but little better developed than in L. megalotis. Dorsal X, 11 or 

 12 ; the spines rather high, the highest 2 to 2 .4 in head, about as long as 

 snout and eye. Anal III, 10 or 11; pectorals rather long, 1 to 1 . 1 in 

 head; ventrals exceeding vent, usually reaching to or a little past first 

 anal spine. Scales 5, 35-40, 13 or 14; 4 or 5 rows on cheek. 



This very abundant species of extreme northern Illinois, espe- 

 cially common in the upland lakes of Lake and McHenry counties, is 

 scarcely known south of the center of the state, having occurred, 

 indeed, but twice in all our collections below the latitude of Spring- 

 field — once in Clear Lake, across the Ohio from Cairo, and once in 

 Drew pond, near Carmi, on the Little Wabash River. It is essential- 

 Iv a pond species, and is next most abundant in the smaller rivers, 

 our ratios being 2. 16 for glacial lakes, 1 .24 for lowland lakes, and 

 1 . 06 for rivers of the second class. We have taken it only occasion- 

 ally in the larger ri\"ers and in creeks, its absence in the latter in this 

 state being probably due to its preference for clear streams, in 

 which the greater part of our area is notably deficient. Its local dis- 

 tribution brings it into frequent company with the warmouth (coeffi- 

 cient of association, 3.72), notwithstanding the fact that the pump- 

 kinseed is much the most abundant northward in this state and the 

 warmouth decidedly so southward. Competition is evaded, how- 

 ever, by their widely different food and feeding structures. The 

 pumpkinseed is the best fitted of all our sunfishes to crush and 

 devour moUusks, and we found these making nearly half the food of 

 nine specimens examined by us. Fishes were entirely wanting, 

 insects amounted only to about a fifth, and medium-sized crusta- 

 ceans (Allorchestes and Asellus) were represented by another fifth. 



Its general range is illustrated by its Illinois distribution, except 

 that it extends down the Atlantic coast, at least as far as the Caro- 

 linas. It has, indeed, been attributed to Florida since the days of 

 Holbrook (1855), and Goode reports it as common in all the fresh 

 waters of that state, but we have failed to find any specific account 

 of its capture there or any mention of a precise locality from which it 

 has been taken. Northward it occurs in Ontario, Quebec, and New 

 Brunswick, and in Lakes Huron, Erie, Ontario, and Champlain. In 

 the Mississippi Valley it is found only in the northern portion, abun- 

 dant as far south as northern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, and 

 the Osage River in Kansas. Below extreme northern Illinois it is 

 found mainly in lakes and along the Illinois River, this stream serv- 

 ing for this species, as for so many others, as a highway for the dis- 

 persal movement. (18) 



