PRO GEE DIN as 



UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, 



1885. 



Yol. VIII, ]Vo. I. Washing^ten, ». C. ji:pi:U-4tO, 188S. 



LIST OP FISHES COLLECTED INIOTVAAND MISSOURIIN AUGUST, 

 1884, -WITH DESCRIPTIONS OP THREE NEW SPECIES. 



By DAVID S. JORDAN and 8ETB E. MfiEK. 



Daring the months of July, August, and September, 1884, a series 

 of explorations of the streams of the south and southwest was under- 

 taken under the direction of the United States National Museum and 

 the United States Fish Commission by Professor Jordan, assisted by 

 Prof. Charles H. Gilbert, Prof. Joseph Swain, and Mr. Seth E. Meek. 

 The present paper is the first of a series intended to place on record the 

 result of these explorations. It includes the streams examined by the 

 present writers, namely, the Des Moines, the Chariton, the Hundred 

 and Two, the Missouri, and several tributaries of the La Mine and the 

 Osage. Nearly all the specimens mentioned were obtained with a fine- 

 meshed seine of large size. These are now in the United States Na- 

 tional Museum, with the exception of series retained for the Indiana 

 University and the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia. 



A. — Des Moines Biver at Ottumwa, Iowa. 



Most of the streams of Southern Iowa are muddy and excessively slug- 

 gish, and they become nearly dry in summer. The Des Moines is, how- 

 ever, exceptional in these respects. Its waters are comparatively clear, 

 and at Ottumwa it flows with considerable current. Its bottom is in 

 part hard clay, with some rocks, but at the mouths of tributaries and 

 where the current slackens, it is covered with soft black mud. Our col- 

 lections here were made opposite the city on the right bank of the river. 

 A number of specimens were taken from a muddy slough, and still 

 others from a brook called Village Creek southwest of the city. In 

 August this is a small stream of clear water flowing over muddy sand. 

 Proc. N. M. 85 1 



