NOTROPIS 



137 



Fn 



NOTROPIS BLENNIUS (Girard) 



(straw-colored minnow) 



Girard, L856, Proc. Ac. Xat. Sci. Phila., 194 (Alburnops). 



M. V.. 56 (deliciosus) ; J. & E., I, 261; X., 46 (Hybopsis stramineus); J., 57 (Al- 

 burnops stramineus") ; F. F., [.6, S4 (Luxilus cornutus) ; F. 78 (stramineus) ; I. , 17. 



A small pale species of rather indefinite characters, almost entirely 

 without marked distinctions of either form or color. Length 2\ 

 inches; bodv about equally tapered both forward and backward 

 from its deepest point, which is a little in front of a line connecting 

 first dorsal and ventral rays ; moderately compressed ; depth 4 . 2 to 4 . S ; 

 caudal peduncle rather slender, its depth 2 to 3.1 in its length. Color 

 very light olive above, paler below; sides silvery, with an indistinct 

 light-leaden stripe above lateral line, above and below each pore of 

 which is a black spot; belly silvery; a faint vertebral streak, broaden- 

 ing into an evident blackish blotch at front of dorsal; caudal spot 

 faint or but a trace; head olivaceous above, the 

 cheeks and opercles silvery; dorsal and caudal 

 often with some dusky; other fins pale. Head 

 small, conic, 3.8 to 4.2 in length of head and 

 bodv; width of head 1 . 7 to 2 in its length; inter- 

 orbital space 3 to 3 . 6 in head; eye 2.9 to 3.4, 

 usually over 3.2 in full-grown specimens; nose 

 bluntlv conic, scarcely decurved, its length equal 

 to diameter of eve in adults, 3.3 to 3 . 8 in head, 

 usually about 3.5; mouth rather small, terminal, 



slightly or moderately oblique, the tip of the upper lip seeming to vary 

 in position from quite on a level with the inferior margin of the pupil to 

 even with the lower margin of the orbit; maxillary 3.3 to 3.7 in head, 

 about reaching vertical from front of orbit; jaws about equal; isthmus 

 less than pupil. Teeth 4-4, rather strongly hooked, with grinding sur- 

 faces developed on at least two or three teeth ; intestine . 9 to 1 . 2 times 

 length of head and body; peritoneum more or less densely sprinkled 

 with rather large and coarse Mack specks. Dorsal tin with 8 rays 

 (rarlev 7), inserted almost directly over, or slightly in advance of , ven- 

 trals, and usually almost exactly equidistant between muzzle and base 

 of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1.1 to 1 3 in head; anal rays 7 (rarely 6); 



Fig. 



