REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 121 



118. Boleosoma nigriun olmstedi (Storer). Darter. 



Geog. Dist.: Lake Ontario to Massachusetts, south to Virginia. Common 



in Massachusetts and Connecticut. 

 Habitat: Among weeds of clear streams. (Jordan and Copeland, Amer. 



Nat. X, 1876, 335.) 

 Season in R. I.: Reported from Rhode Island by R. I. Fish Commission, 



1899. 

 Food: Insect larvae, crustaceans, and small molluscs. (Forbes, Food of 



the Darters, Amer. Nat. XIV, 1880, 697.) 

 Size: Three and a half inches. 



CHEIL0DIPTERID.5:. The Cardinal Fishes. 



119. Apogon iinberbis (Linneeus). King of the Mullets. 



Geog. Dist. : Mediterranean and neighboring waters. Once taken at New- 

 port and once recorded from the Island of Fernando de Noronha. 



Season in R. I.: A specimen taken at Newport was described by Cope in 

 1870. (Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1870, 120.) 



SERRANID.E. The Sea Basses. 

 130. Roeeus lineatus (Bloch). Striped Bass; Rockfish. 



Geog. Dist.: Atlantic coast of North America, Nova Scotia to Florida. 

 Most common from Cape Cod to Cape May. Introduced into California. 

 Common along the whole New England coast. 



Migrations: It is said not to be migratory, but present along our coast in 

 winter as well as summer. Taken through the ice in Long Island and 

 Block Island Sounds in December (Goode, Nat. Hist, of Aquatic Ani- 

 mals, 425). At Woods Hole, arrives in May (Rumpus). 



Season in R. I.: Arrives the last of March with the shad. The dates of 

 arrival in Taunton River from 1871 to 1883 range from March 15 in 

 1880 to April 6, 1883 (Bull. U.S. Fish Commission, 1883, 478). On 

 September 17, 1906, twenty-four specimens were taken in Wild Goose 

 trap, and on September 24, 1906, another specimen was taken in the 

 same trap. In the Hazard's Quarry trap on June 5, 1906, a few speci- 

 mens were taken, one of which weighed seven pounds. 



Reproduction: Spawns from April to June in rivers or brackish waters. 

 Eggs are buoyant, non-adhesive, 1-7 inch in diameter, and hatch in 

 three days in water 58°. A remarkable peculiarity of this fish is its 

 ability to hybirdize with other species. (White and yellow perch and 

 shad, Ryder.) 

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