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MATERIAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE VARIATION OF PIMEPHALES NOTATUS (Ra- 
FINESQUE), IN TURKEY LAKE AND IN SHOE AND TIPPECANOE 
ILAvcnss* By.) <)) ke) VORIS. 
As a part of the general plan of the Indiana University Biological 
Station to study the variation of the same vertebrates in two contiguous 
lakes belonging to different water systems, I collected during the summer 
of 1895 a large series of Pimephales notatus in Turkey Lake and the Shoe 
and Tippecanoe Lakes. Shoe Lake is a small body of water perfectly 
land locked, but which has but recently become cut off from communica- 
tion with Tippecanoe Lake. Tippecanoe Lake is a long narrow sheet of 
water near the head waters of the Tippecanoe River, a tributary of the 
Wabash. Turkey Lake occupies a corresponding position in the St. Law- 
rence system. At different points in Turkey Lake 536 specimens were 
collected in the months of June, July and August. In Tippecanoe, seventy- 
two specimens were taken, and in Shoe Lake, forty-three. : 
The species is much more abundant in Turkey Lake than in the other 
two lakes. Many individuals are found along the shallow rocky shores, 
and their eggs are found in abundance plastered on the under surface of 
boards and other submerged objects near the margin of the lake where the 
water is not more than one or two feet deep. The fry were seen in quiet, 
warm weather along the shores by the laboratory. 
A large number of characters were examined at the beginning of the 
study, but as many of these, for one reason or another, were found not 
available for the purposes in hand, the data were finally limited to the 
number of dorsal and anal rays and to the scales of the lateral line. While 
this fish has the reputation of being very variable, the characters ex- 
amined are remarkably constant, and in the number of dorsal and anal 
rays the species may be said to have reached a stage of stable equilibrium, 
as the following pages will demonstrate. Since it was not possible in every 
case to determine absolutely those scales in the lateral line which had and 
those which had not spores, this character is omitted from the paper. 
A miscellaneous lot of 5386 specimens from Turkey Lake range in length 
from 25 mm. to 73 mm. The largest number of individuals of a given 
length is 37 and these have a length of 47 mm. A curve constructed to 
show the relative number of specimens of a given length shows that they 
do not fall into distinct groups of different ages. 
*Contributions from the Biological Laboratory of the Indiana University, No. 19. 
