518 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



chiefly wanting, and the dorsal, anal and caudal are checked or 

 barred. 



The blue darter, blue Johnny, rainbow darter, or soldier fish, 

 is found in the Ohio valley and in some parts of the Mississippi 

 valley. It abounds in gravelly streams and ascends small 

 brooks, but not in large numbers. The U. S. Fish Commission 

 obtained many individuals in Marsh creek at Point Breeze N. Y. 

 Aug. 2, and a few in Salt brook, 1^ miles above Nine Mile point, 

 June 11, 1893. 



The blue darter reaches a length of 3 inches. It is not so 

 active as some of the other darters, but in coloration it is the 

 most beautiful of all. One of the most interesting accounts of its 

 habits is republished in Bulletin 47, U. S. National Museum, from 

 the writings of Jordan and Copeland. It will follow to the sur- 

 face of the water a piece of meat suspended by a thread and 

 has been seen to catch a water insect by a swimming leg and 

 release it several times, apparently for the mere pleasure of 



playing tricks. 



Subgenus etheostoma 



256 Etheostoma flabellare Rafinesque 



Fantail Darter 



Etheostoma flabellaris Rafinesque, Jour, de Physique, Paris, 419, 1819. 

 Etheostoma limJeyi Stoeer, Proc. Bost. See, Nat. Hist. 37, 1851, Wolcott, 



Wayne County, N. Y. 

 Catonotus fasciatus Gikabd, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Pliila. 68, 1859, Madrid, 



N. Y. 

 Catonotus flabeUatus Vaillant, Rechercbes sur Etheostom. 121, 1873, with 



plate. 

 Etheostoma flabellare Jordax & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 513, 



1883; Meek, Ann. N. Y. Ac. Sci. IV, 314, 1888; Bean, Fishes Penna. 



125, 1893; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 1097, 1896; 



Eugene Smith, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. Y. 1897, 37, 1898. 



Body slender, elongate; head long, lower jaw strongly pro- 

 jecting. The species is readily recognized by its low fins, 

 specially the spinous dorsal, and its prominent lower jaw. It 

 runs, however, into several varieties, one of which, occurring in 

 Indiana and northwestward, has black spots on the scales form- 

 ing lateral stripes; another variety from the Cumberland river 



