FISHES OF THE CONNECTICUT LAKES. 35 



Color, dusky above, sides somewliat silvery, darlver above; au obscure dusky 

 lateral baud passing through eye aud arouud suout. In the breediug season 

 bases of ventrals and pectoral, angles of mouth and under mouth very distinctly 

 red, the red most distinct in the male ; dark lateral stripe also vei'y distinct. 



Distinguished from all other minnows in this region, excepting the two daces, 

 by the rather Inferior position of the mouth ; from the daces by differences 

 noted in diagnosis of longnose dace. 



There seems to be no distinctive name for this fish other than the 

 above, which is coined to supply the deficiency. The name seems 

 properly applicable since the fish is a minnow closely related to the 

 chub. 



The recorded range of the species is not' very wide : the Great Lakes, 

 upper St. Lawrence, northern New York and northern Vermont, 

 Maine, and New Brunswick. It probabl}^ occurs in many other places 

 wdiich more extensive collections wall reveal. In this region it was 

 almost everywhere common. We collected it in Indian Stream, all 

 three Connecticut Lakes and inlets, and in Round and Mud ponds. 

 In Round Pond and Third Lake it runs somewhat larger than in First 

 and Second lakes, reaching a knowai length of about 5 inches. 



The chub-minnow^ feeds chiefly upon animal food, as insects, etc. 

 It wnll also eat small fish; individuals have been found gorged with 

 chopped fish and corn meal, which had been used to attract fishes to 

 the seine. It seems to be very abundant wherever it occurs, being 

 primaril}^ a pond or lake fish, ascending streams in spring and early 

 summer to spawn. In some streams, how^ever, it is a permanent resi- 

 dent. In this region the spawning season seems to be in the early, 

 part of July. In Mud Pond Brook, particularly, individuals w^ere 

 found in abundance in spawning condition at this time. In the 

 spaw^ning season the first runs of fish seem to be mostly males, as is 

 the case with smelts ; later tlie runs include both sexes. Many of these 

 fish, but particularly the males, linger in the brooks after the spawn- 

 ing season, which also seems to be the case wdth many other species 

 of fish. The ascent of streams for the purpose of spawaiing seems 

 to be mainly at night and on cloudy days, w^hen the fish run in schools. 

 A small unbaited w^ire minnow trap took from 50 to 100 in a single 

 night. The following is a detailed account of observations upon the 

 runs of this species in Mud Pond Brook near the mouth : 



July 2 : Thirty-nine caught ; many of them showing red markings 

 very distinctly. 



July 3 to 5: Trap down 2 nights, took 122, many of the speci- 

 mens showing red coloration at base of pectorals and ventrals, and 

 at angle of mouth ; the dark lateral stripe very distinct. 



July 6 to 7 : Trap dowai 2 nights. Several dozen, all in spawning 

 condition. 



July 13 to 15: Trap down 2 nights, contained only 22 specimens, 

 most of them spent. The si)awning season in this brook seemed to be 



