LAMPREYS AND FISHES OF INDIANA. 191 



Prof. Forbes (i^, II, '88, 444), found the food of the striped sucker to 

 be made up mostly of moUusks. Some insect larvis and a small amount of 

 entomostracous crustaceans had also been eaten. The young eat young 

 unios and protozoa. The young may be distinguished from all other 

 suckers, except C, sucetta, by not having a lateral line, from this by not 

 having a black lateral baud. 



Catostomus nigricans LeS. 



Sto7ie Roller ; Hog Sucker ; Hammer-head. 



Jordan and Gilbert, 1882, 8, 130 ; Jordan, 1884, 12, 615. 



Body elongated and little compressed, tapering backward from the 

 head. Head large, flat or concave between the eyes, in front of which 

 the profile descends to the snout and then turns abruptly downward. 

 Sides of the head perpendicular. Eyes high up, small. Mouth rather 

 small. Scales along lateral line, forty-eight to fifty-five. Pectoral fins 

 large. Dorsal, eleven ; anal, seven. Color silvery or olivaceous, and 

 with more or less lustre of brassy. Dark above, paler on the belly. 

 Back and sides of the younger specimens with cross blotches of dusky ; 

 head with mottlings of brown, or black. The length is said to reach in 

 some cases as much as two feet; usually much smaller. 



Distributed from the Great Lakes southward. A common fish in all 

 the clearer streams of the State. Falls of the Ohio (9, 9, 34) ; Clark 

 and Ohio counties (23, '88, 56); Franklin County (5, No. 2, 5); Mon- 

 roe County {1, '85, 410; ^5, '84, 200); White River at Indianapolis 

 (i, '77, 377) ; Vincennes (4, '88, 162) ; Carroll County (23, '88, 45) ; 

 St. Joseph River; Kankakee River at Plymouth, Tippecanoe River, 

 Deer Creek at Camden, Eel River at Logansport, and Blue River at 

 Columbia City (4, '88, 154-158) ; Vigo County (16, '94) ; Eel River 

 Basin (4, '94, 36). 



Dr. Jordan (12, 615), says of this fish: "The stone roller is ex- 

 tremely abundant in every running stream in the North and West, where 

 its singular, almost comical form is familiar to every schoolboy. It de- 

 lights in rapids and shoals, preferring cold and clear water. Its powerful 

 pectorals render it a swifter swimmer than any other of its family. Its 

 habit is to rest motionless on the bottom, where its mottled colors render 

 it difficult to distinguish from the stones among which it lies. When dis- 

 turbed it darts away very quickly, after the manner of the etheostomoids. 

 They often go in small schools. I have never met this fish in really 

 muddy water, and when placed in the aquarium it is the first fish to die 

 as the water becomes foul. It is a ' boys' fish,' and not worth the eat- 

 ing." 



Forbes (14-, '88, 447), found the food of this sucker to consist almost 

 wholly of the larvse of aquatic insects. The amount of molluscan food 

 was very small. 



