ZOOLOGY. 35X 



Sunfish, "pumpkin seeds," or roach, as they are called in Connecticut, are abundant in the 

 same situations as the last mentioned fish. They are a little larger than the average of the 

 individuals found in New York State, but in other respects seem very similar. They are taken 

 with the same bait, and seem to be identical in habits with their more eastern relatives. I 

 observed, in some of the lakes of western Minnesota, vast numbers of their spawnino- beds or 

 nests. These were usually of two or three feet in diameter, and depressed in the middle. 



STIZOSTEDION BOREUS, Grd. 

 Okow, or Horn Fish ; Pike-perch ; Wall-eyed Pike. 



Plate XI, Figs. 5—8. 



Sp. Ch. — Body slender, elongated, and sub-fusiform. Snout conical ; mouth deeply cleft ; posterior extremity of maxillary 

 bone extending to a vertical line drawn posteriorly to the orbit. Scales on cheek and opercle not deciduous, larger upon the 

 opercle than upon the cheek. Insertion of ventral fins situated posteriorly to the base of pectorals, and somewhat anteriorly to 

 the origin of first dorsal. Posterior margin of caudal crescent shaped. Anus situated opposite the orii'in of tlie second dorsal 

 fin. Yellowish or olivaceous, spotted with black. 



Syn. — Lucioperca borea, Grd. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. November, 1857. 



OIcow Orees "^ 



„ ' . , ' I Richards, Faun. Bor. Amer. Ill, 1836, 14. 



Horn ttsh, for traders, ) 



The pike-perch is extremely abundant in some of the lakes near Sauk river, Minnesota and 

 I found them quite common in the pond holes and lagoons of Milk river, a tributary of the 

 Upper Missouri. 



It is caught readily with the "revolving spoon" and with common bait, and when hooked is 

 an active game-like fish, affording much sport to the angler. For the table its flesh is very 

 good, resembling somewhat that of the yellow perch, or as if intermediate between that and 

 that of the pickerel — hence its vulgar name, 



CHIROPSIS NEBULOSUS, Grd. 



Sp. Ch. — Dorsal fins contiguous. Caudal posteriorly sub-concave. Lower portion of cheeks and opercular apparatus 

 scaleless. Base of anal longer than soft dorsal. Upper region black; inferior region olivaceous. 

 Stn. — C/iii'ojjsis ncbulosus, Grd. Gen. Rep. Fishes, 1858, 45. 

 The colors above given are from an alcoholic specimen. 



This fish was obtained by me from the brackish waters just inside of the mouth of Steilacoom 

 creek, and was caught with the "revolving spoon." It is probable that it, like many of the 

 sculpins there caught, merely enter the river at high tide, retreating to the salt waters of the 

 sound at the ebb. The extremities of the fin rays are free, giving the fins a fimbricated 

 appearance. These rays were of a dingy yellow color; sides mottled with dusky brown and 

 dirty yellow; ventral fins yellowish. 



COTTOPSIS ASPER, Grd. 



Prickly-skinned 'Scalpiu. 



Sp. Ch. — Origin of first dorsal opposite the insertion of the upper ray of pectorals. First ray of anal under the fourth 

 of second dorsal. Tip of pectorals extending to a vertical line passing posterior to the vent. Skin generally prickly ; lateral 

 line slightly deflected upon the peduncle of the tail . Grayish white, studded with clove-brown spots ; beneath speckled. 

 Syn. — Cottus asper. — Rich. Faun. Bor. Amer. UI, 1836, 295 and 313, pi. xcv, fig. 1. 

 Trachidermis richardsoni, Heck. Ann. Wien Vus. 11, 1837, 162. 

 CentridermiclUkys asper, Rich. Voy. of Sulph. Ichthyol. 1844, 74 ; and. Rep. Tchtliyol. China and Japan, (Rep. Brit. 



Assoc.) 

 Coltopsis asper, Gkd. Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. Ill, 1850, 303.— Nouv. Mem. Sec. Helv. Sc. Nat. XII, 1851, 

 185 ; and, Smith. Contrib. to Knowled. Ill, 18 J2, 63. — Girard, Gen. Rep. Fishes, 51. 



