206 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



NOTES ON THE FISHES OF SWITZ CITY SWAMP, GREENE 



COUNTY, INDIANA. 



By CHAS. H. GILBERT. 



A short distance south of Switz City, Greene 'County, Indiana, is a 

 low-lying treeless " prairie," of circular outline, and from two to four 

 miles in diameter. During the winter and spring this tract is overflowed 

 to a considerable depth, and in seasons of unusually high water it has 

 free communication with the West Fork of White Elver, which flows 

 near it. When visited by the writer during the last week of August, 

 1883, water covered most of the swamp to a depth of less than a foot, 

 most of the fishes having been obliged to retire to a narrow, ditch-like 

 depression near its middle. Here they were gathered in such numbers 

 that the farmer lads of the vicinity were catching fine strings of black 

 bass and sunfish, and still larger strings of "pond-fish" {Aniia) by 

 thrusting a pitch-fork rapidly and at random through the muddy water. 



The species enumerated below may serve as some indication of the 

 fauna characterizing the numerous swamps and bayous of Southwestern 

 Indiana. Of the fourteen species obtained, one is thought to be new, 

 and five are here for the first time recorded as occurring abundantly 

 in Indiana. 



1.. Amia calva Linn. 



Found in great numbers in this and all other swamps and bayous 

 along the lower course of White Eiver. This fish has the reputation of 

 being totally unfit for food, but I was assured by the boys who were 

 taking them home that, although not very good, they were still good 

 enough to eat. I also saw a string of them sold for a good price to a 

 (perhaps unsophisticated) inhabitant of Switz Citj*. The species is 

 universally known in Greene County as the "Pond-Fish." 



2. Amiurus nielas Raf. 



3. Amiurus nebulosus marmoratus Holbrook. 



Numerous specimens from 5 to 10 inches long, all showing very con- 

 spicuously the characteristic coloration of this form. 



Head dusky; sides of body, and all the fins, sharply mottled with 

 silvery-white, greenish, and dusky. 



Head 3 J in length; depth 3|-. A. 22. 



Boily deep, closely compressed, the back much elevated; profile ris- 

 ing rapidly in a straight line from snout to base of dorsal spine. Head 

 not broad, comparatively little depressed, narrowing rapidly forwards, 

 the snout sharp and conical. Mouth narrow, the two jaws equal, the 

 distance between the bases of the maxillaries equaling about ^ length 

 of head. Maxillary barbel reaching end of basal fourth of pectoral 

 spine. 



