THE SUCKERS 



from New England (Massachusetts especially) west 

 to Kansas. This species may be known by its 

 moderately stout body, cylindrical and tapering, and 

 by the heaviness at the shoulders. The mouth is 

 rather large, the lips densely covered with minute 

 nipple-like projections, the upper lip less so, with 

 only two or three rows of papilla?. The colora- 

 tion is slightly olive, with a faint rosy band appear- 

 ing on the sides of the males in the spring of the 

 year. 



There is a large sucker, with a maximum growth 

 of two feet, of interesting habits, which, no doubt, 

 is found in certain waters of the southern New 

 England States, although credited by ichthyologists 

 with a range only as far north as upper New York 

 State, and as its authenticated habitat is described 

 as being from New York westward to Minnesota, 

 it will doubtless be found in the streams tributary 

 to the Great Lakes. This fish riots in vernacular 

 names, each of which is more or less descriptive 

 of its habits ; it has no less than six of them, and, 

 doubtless, many more yet to be heralded : hog 

 molly, hog sucker, stone roller, toter, crawl-a- 

 bottom, hammer head, and stone-lugger. Its 

 specific technical name, nigricans, is from the 

 Latin, signifying " blackish." This sucker is of 

 purer habits than its congeners, being never found 



VOL. II. 15 22C 



