170 



FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



with a vim and energy worthy of a better fish. The fight he makes, 

 though it would not wholly satisfy the veteran black bass angler, 

 is quite enough to fill the youthful Walton with unbounded joy and 

 pride. But as his experiences widen his chief interest in the horny- 

 head lies in the fact that it is one of the best of live baits for nobler 

 fish. For muskallunge, pickerel, wall-eyed pike, and black bass of 

 either species, as a live bait it is not surpassed ; large individuals for 

 muskallunge and increasingly smaller ones for the others, those for 

 the small-mouthed black bass being not over 3 to 5 inches in length. 

 A hardy, active minnow, and of an attractive color, as a live bait it 

 is unsurpassed." 



Genus PLATYGOBIO Gill 



Body elongate, somewhat compressed; head short, broad, and de- 

 pressed ; mouth subterminal; a well-developed barbel at back of maxillary; 

 teeth 2, 4-4, 2, with narrow grinding surface; dorsal 8; anal 8; scales 45 to 

 50; lateral line continuous. Length 6 to 12 inches. Species few, con- 

 fined principally to the east slope of the Rocky Mountains; one species 

 found in Illinois. 



Fig. 45 



PLATYGOBIO GRACILIS (Richardson) 



(flat-headed chub) 



Richardson, 1836, Fauna Bor. Amer., Fishes. 120 (Cyprinus). 



G , VII, 240 (Leuciscus gracilis), 267 (Leucosomus communis) and 268 (Leucoso- 



mus gulonellus), ]. &. G, 2\'>, also 220 (pallidus Forbes); M. V., 65; [. & E., 



326; F., 75 (pallidus); L., 20 (pallidus). 



A silvery minnow with a broad, flat head, fine scales, and an evident 

 barbel terminal on the maxillary. Length of our largest specimens 3 

 inches; specimens 10 to 12 inches long known from the waters of the upper 

 Missouri; body rather elongate, the depth 5.1 to S . 4 in the length ; adults 

 much more slender than young ; caudal peduncle slender, its depth 2 . 1 to 



