50 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



3 to 3 . 5 in the head, about i in the snout ; mouth small and rather ventrally placed, 

 angle of the mouth not reaching the level of the anterior margin of the eye; pharyn- 

 geal teeth usually 1-4-4-1 ; dorsal fin short and high, length of its base about i . 5 

 in the length of the longest ray, base of the first dorsal ray on a level with or 

 very slightly behind the base of the ventrals; dorsal rays 7 or 8; pectorals short, 

 not reaching the ventrals; ventrals barely reaching the anal opening; anal fin 

 short, of 7 or 8 rays; scales 5 or 6, 38-42, 4; lateral line complete and somewhat 

 decurved in the pectoral region; predorsal region without scales, or scales if present 

 small and much crowded just in front of the dorsal and wanting near the head; 

 size small, length 3 inches or less. 



Color above the lateral line yellowish or light olivaceous, overlaid with dusky 

 or greenish; sides silvery, lighter ventrally; a distinct dusky mid-dorsal stripe; 

 a dusky bluish lateral stripe along the lateral line, this stripe often much inter- 

 rupted and obscured by the silvery color of the sides; a series of small, black 

 hyphen-shaped marks on each side of the pores of the lateral line; fins hyaline, 

 rays more or less outlined with dusky. 



This shiner is much like the following species, Notropis scylla, from which it 

 may be recognized most easily by the absence of scales in the predorsal region. 



Notropis piptolepis is known only from the western portion of the Platte River 

 drainage, being a species of the small shallow streams of the plains and foothills. 

 Most of the females of this species collected at Boulder, July 25, 191 2, were dis- 

 tended with well-developed eggs, so it is probable that the spawning season is 

 July and early August. 



Colorado specimens. — University Museum: Boulder Creek, Boulder, October, 1903 (127 

 specimens, 55-70 mm.), C. Juday and J. Henderson, No. 9; West Plum Creek near Castle Rock, 

 June 8, 1912 (59 specimens, 35-75 mm.), A. G. Vestal amd M. M. Ellis, No. 353; South Platte, 

 Julesburg, July 19, 1912 (5 specimens, 60-70 mm.), J. Henderson and M. M. Ellis, No. 354; Lodge- 

 pole Creek near Ovid, July 20, 1912 (15 specimens, 50-70 mm.), J. Henderson and M. M. Ellis, 

 No. 355; Boulder Creek 6 miles east of Boulder, July 25, 1912 (11 specimens, 40-65 mm.), M- 

 M. Ellis, No. 356. 



Notropis scylla (Cope) 



Western Shiner (Fig. 28) ' ' '^-^-^'^''^ 



Hybopsis scylla Cope, Hayden Geol. Survey of Wyoming for 1870, p. 438, 1871 (Red Cloud 

 Creek, tributary of Platte River); Cope and Yarrow, Wheeler Survey, Vol. V, p. 566, 1875 (Foun- 

 tain Creek). 



Notropis scylla (Cope)— Jordan, Bull. U.S. Fish Com., Vol. IX, p. 8, 1889 (Denver; Pueblo); 

 JtJDAY, Univ. Colo. Studies, Vol. II, p. 113, 1903 (Boulder; Longmont); Juday, Bull. U.S. Fish 

 Com. for IQ04, p. 227, 1905 (Boulder; Longmont). 



Body elongate, slightly compressed, head rather long; depth 3.9 to 4.5, 

 (3.6 in gravid females), head 3.75 to 4 in the length to the base of the caudal; 

 eye rather large, 3 to 3 . 5 in the head, about i in the snout and i to i . 5 usually 

 about I. 25 in the interorbital distance; snout short, abrupt and rounded anteri- 



