168 . REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



Amia calva Linn. 



Bow-Jin; Orindle; Mud-fish; Dogfish. 



Jordan and Gilbert, 1882, 8, 94 ; Jordan, 1882, 2, 777 ; 1884, 12, 659, 

 pi. 241 ; Smith, H. M., 1892, 4, pi. 22. 



Body compressed behind, the caudal peduncle deep. Head somewhat 

 depressed, descending to the snout. Head in the length nearly four 

 times ; snout in the whole length of the head about four ; rounded. Jaws 

 even. Large teeth on the jaws and palatines ; bands of smaller teeth 

 on the vomers and pterygoids. Branchiostegals twelve. Gill-rakers short, 

 stout. Eye rather small. Depth of body in the length four to five 

 times. Ventrals about the middle of the body. Dorsal fin long and 

 low, occupying more than one-half the length of the back ; its rays 

 about fifty. Anal short ; its rays ten to twelve. Caudal rounded. Scales 

 8-67-11. Color in life green above, with a bronzy luster and with spots 

 and anastamosing bands of black; paler below. Often some spots on 

 the lower jaw. Fins dark. Tail of the male with a round, dark spot, 

 surrounded with an orange border. This spot wanting in the female. 

 Length of male reaching about eighteen inches ; that of femiale about 

 twenty-four to thirty inches. 



Great Lakes and streams of the Mississippi Valley ; Lake Champlain 

 to Texas. 



In Indiana Dr. Jordan records this fish from Lake Michigan {10, '74, 

 226); Maumee River (i, '77, 46); Ohio River. It was taken in the 

 Wabash River by Le Sueur, the French naturalist (17, XIX, 432). Prof. 

 Jenkins has taken it in Lake Maxinkuckee (23, '88, 55) and in the 

 Wabash River in Vigo County (16, 93). Prof. Gilbert reports having 

 found it abundant in the lowlands of Greene County (23, '84, 206); 

 Posey County (4, '88, 162). It is common in the lakes in northwestern 

 Indiana, near Chicago. Eel River basin (4, '94, 36). 



Prof. Milner gives the Bow-fin as one of the fishes which inhabit the 

 Great Lakes and occupy a zone extending from the surface to a depth of 

 about twenty fathoms. In the rivers it is regarded as preferring the 

 more sluggish portions of the stream. It is extremely tenacious of life 

 and can remain out of the water for a long time. It is said to make 

 excellent bait, and may be kept for a long period in crowded aquaria 

 without change of water. It lives long on the hook. These fishes are 

 very voracious, and probably prey on all animals of suitable size. They 

 have been known to bite a two-pound fish clean in two at a snap. Dr. 

 Forbes found in their stomachs the remains of various kinds of fish, uni- 

 valve and bivalve mollusks, insects and insect larv£e, crayfishes and the 

 smaller crustaceans. As food they are generally regarded as worthless. 

 The flesh is pasty, as any one knows who has attempted to clean a 



