TAPERS ON ZOOLOGY 147 



free movement of the attending- fish and this has been 

 opened to the exterior, permitting the fisli to move in and 

 ont. ]S^o evidence of any excavating or other nest building 

 process by the species was obtained. 



There were usually several hundred eggs packed in a 

 layer (Fig, 6) close together in a patch, mostly in a single 

 layer but in places in two layers. The patch is usually 

 roughly oblong with no diameter exceeding five inches. The 

 eggs are placed very similarly to those of the Blunt-nosed 

 Minnow, but they are smaller and each has a conspicuous 

 oil globule not found in the minnow's eggs. Identification 

 has been made in every case by the presence of the attend- 

 ing fish, which has always been a large example of the 

 species with much black pigment, showing especially on 

 the dorsal part of the body and on the head, which is very 

 dark. Jordan and Copeland ('96, p. 28) describe this pig- 

 mentation of the breeding male and say that it is a 

 nuptial feature and disappears at the end of the breeding 

 season. The fish watching eggs is very bold and behaves 

 much as the Blunt-nosed Minnow does while guarding its 

 eggs. 



Forbes and Richardson ('09, p. 296) describe the 

 spawning act in this species as it took iDlace in an aqua- 

 rium. Seal gives an account of the breeding in an 

 aquarium of the closely related eastern form, Boleosoma 

 nigrum olmstedi (Storer). He noted that the spawning 

 was effected by the female passing up and down over the 

 surface chosen until all the eggs were extruded and adher- 

 ing to the stone. The writer made a number of observa- 

 tions on the nesting places and the breeding behavior of 

 this species in Walnut Lake, Michigan (Hankinson 'OS, p. 

 215). 



LITERATURE CITED 



Barker E. E. 



1918. The Brook Stickleback. Scientific Monthly, Vol. G, p. 526-529. 

 Bensley, B. A, 



1915. The fishes of Georgian Bay. 47th Ann. Report Dep't of 

 Marine and Fisheries, p. 1-51. 

 Crevecoeur, F. F. 



1908. A new species of Campostoma? Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 

 Vol. 21. p. 1.55-157. 

 Culbertson, Glenn 



1904. Note on the breeding habits of the Common or White Sucker, 

 Proc. Indiana Acadamy of Science for 1903, p. G5-G6. 



