144 CONTRIBUTIONS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY III. 



to l in yuiin;^ : head stout, short, about 4 J in lonj^th (4 to 4^), the interorbital 

 space wide and depressed, tlie lower parts narrower, so that it is somewhat wedgo- 

 Bhapcd downwards : eje not large, 4 J in head (4A toG^) : mouth protractilo down- 

 wards and forwards, the mandible oblique: scales usually closely imbricated and 

 more or less crowded forwards, but often showing various irregularities in arrange- 

 ment, about 43 (39-45) in a longitudinal series and 15 (14 to 10) in a transverse se- 

 ries between the ventrala and the dorsal. Fin-rays somewhat variable, the dorsal 

 with 11 (10 to 13) developed rays, the anal with 7, and (he ventrals with U 

 (rarely 8). 



Coloration varying with age ; never distinct series of black spots along the rows 

 of scales; young with a broad black lateral band bordered above by paler; in 

 some specimens from clear water, this band is of a jet-black color and very dis- 

 tinct ; in others, it is duller; later this band becomes broken into a series of 

 blotches, which often assume the form of broad transverse bars; in adult speci- 

 mens, these bars disappear, and the color is nearly uniform brown, dusky above, 

 paler below, every where with a coppery or brassy, never silvery, lustre ; the fms 

 are dusky or smoky brown, rarely reddish-tinged: sexual differences strong; the 

 males in spring with usually three large tubercles on each side of the snout, and 

 with the anal On more or less swollen and emarginate : adult specimens with the 

 back gibbous and the body strongly compressed, in appearance quite unlike the 



young. Maximum length about 10 inches .st:cKTTA,21. 



•• Body oblong, the back more elevated, the body deeper and more compressed than in 

 the preceding, the greatest depth in advance of the dorsal fin being contained 

 about 2J times in the length ; nape less gibbous than in sucetta; head quite small 

 and short, the large eye being almost exactly midway in its length, its length 4i 

 in that of the body; eye 4 J in head; interorbital space rather narrow, strongly trans- 

 versely convex, less than half the length of the head : mouth small, protractile for- 

 wards, the lower jaw oblique ; lips as in the preceding. 



Scales large, much larger and much more uniform in their imbrication than in E. 

 sucetta; 3G in a longitudinal series, and about 13 in a transverse series from the ven- 

 trals to the dorsal. Dorsal fin high, of 12 developed rays; anal moderate, with 7; 

 ventrals large, with 10. Color dark olivaceous above, each scale along the sides 

 reflecting pale from the strongly ridged middle part; these giving in certain 

 lights the appearance of pale stripes along the rows of scales: fins dusky, espe- 

 cially at their tips GOODEI, 2*2. 



21. EKIMYZON SUCETTA {LacepMc) Jordan. 

 Chub Sucker. Creek Fish. Mullet. 

 1803— C'iy)rinM8 sucetta LAClSpfeDE, Hist. Nat. des Poissons, v, GOG, GIO. 

 Catostoinua sucetta Le Sueuk, Jouru. Ac. Nat. So. Phila. 109, 1817. 

 Catostomus sucetta DeKay, New York Fauna, part iv, Fishes, 203, 1S42. 

 Catostomua succti CuviKii &. VALrxciKNXES, Hist. Nat. des Poissons, xvii, 400, 1844. 

 Catostoinua succti RTonER, Synopsis, 419, 184G. 



Moxostoma sucetta Aoassiz, Am. Journ. Sc. Arts, 2d series, xix, 202, 1855. 

 Moxostoma sucetta Pcttxam, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 10, lb()3. 



