RHIXICHTHYS 161 



as long as or longer than head, its depth 2.1 to 2.6 in its length. Coloration 

 olivaceous, paler below; sides with some spots and splotches of dark color, 

 but the mottling less prominent than in R. atronasus; back, sides, cheeks 

 and opercles, and caudal peduncle more or less densely punctulate with 

 dusky ; lateral band indistinct ; a black spot 

 on opercle; fins all plain, no spot at middle 

 of base of dorsal fin. (Spring males with 

 lips, cheeks, and lower fins crimson. — Jor- 

 dan & Evermann.) Head long and greatly 

 narrowed, the pointed muzzle very prom- ^fl 

 inent, 4 to 4.1 in length; width of head 

 1 . 8 to 2.2; interorbital space 3.2 to 3 . 3 



in head; eve 4.8 to S.6; nose long and Pig. 40 



pointed, twice the length of the eye, 2.2 



to 2 . 5 in head; mouth wholly inferior and horizontal, tip of upper lip 

 half way between lower margin of orbit and chin ; maxillary 2.9 to 3.1, 

 extending a little past anterior nostril; lower jaw much shorter than 

 upper, the muzzle projecting beyond tip of chin for a distance nearly 

 equal to half length of snout; a small maxillary barbel; isthmus twice 

 diameter of orbit. Teeth 2, 4-4, 2; peritoneum finely but not very 

 densely punctulate with brown. Dorsal fin with 8 rays, set behind ven- 

 trals, its distance from muzzle IS to 20 per cent, greater than to base 

 of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1 . 2 in head; anal rays 7; pectorals about 

 § to ventrals, 1.1 to 1.3 in head; ventrals short of front of anal, pas- 

 sing vent. Scales very small, 7 to 10, 63-70, 7 or 8; lateral line little 

 decurved. 



This species, although very wide-spread and abundant under 

 its preferred conditions, has been very rare with us, being repre- 

 sented in all our collections by only four specimens, one obtained 

 near Waukegan, in northeastern Illinois, and three from Big creek, 

 near the town of Anna, in Union county, in the extreme southern 

 part of the state. It generally prefers clear, cold streams — a fact 

 sufficient to account for its scarcity within our limits. It ranges 

 very widely north, south, east, and west, from New Brunswick 

 and the Province of Quebec through the Great Lakes to the head- 

 waters of the Missouri in Montana, northward to the Saskatchewan, 

 and across the mountains to the Columbia River, southward along 

 tin' Atlantic coast to the Potomac and the James, and by way of 

 the Mississippi Valley to the Rio Grande. It is said to occur also 

 in the Gnat Salt Lake basin of Utah. 



