418 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Valentine, in Cherry County, and 9 specimens are in the collection from the 

 ponds along Dismal River near Dunning, in Blaine County. Very suitable 

 ponds near Chamberlain did not contain this or any other species of sunfish, 

 though some 60 miles east of the place where we found it in Minnecha- 

 duza Creek. It seems probable that the western limit iu Nebraska, of this 

 sunfish, is not far from the one hundredth meridian, and that in the Dakotas 

 it is some miles farther east. This western limit seems coincident with the 

 disappearance of the small lakes and ponds of pure water and the appear- 

 ance of the shallow, uncertain, alkaline streams so characteristic of western 

 Nebraska and South Dakota. There is a number of suitable ponds and lakes 

 farther west, particularly about the Black Hills, where sunfish would 

 probably do well, but that they are not there is apparently due to the fact 

 that the alkaline streams to the eastward have served as a barrier. This 

 sunfish attains a considerable size in this region, especially in the lakes, and 

 is of no little importance as a pan fish. Our specimens from Mitchell, Ver- 

 digris, and the Brown County lakes are particularly large and fine. In life 

 the colors are very brilliant ; dark greenish above and on sides, with bright 

 blue lines on cheek ; belly and posterior portion of body orange ; soft part of 

 opercular flap lemon ; ventrals orange with white border ; anal black at base, 

 rays orange toward tips, outer edge orange and white; caudal lobes with 

 some deep orange. 



111. Lepomis megalotis (Rafinesque). Long-eared Sunfish. Osage Fork, Marsh- 



field, Mo. (Meek, 1891); Silver Lake, Iowa (Meek, 1892). 



112. Lepomis humilis (Girard). Bed-spotted Sunfish. Hundred and Two River 



at Bedford, Iowa, and Maryville, Mo. ; Blackwater Creek, Brownsville, 

 Saline County, Mo. ; Flat Creek, Sedalia, Mo. ; Grand River, Clintou, Mo. 

 Tabo Creek, Calhoun, Mo. (Jordan & Meek, 1885); "locally abundant" in 

 Kansas (Graham, 1885) ; Ellis, Kans. ; Ward and Shunganunga creeks, Shaw 

 nee County, Kans. (Gilbert, 1885, and Cragiu, 1885a) ; Blacksmith Creek 

 Shawnee County, Kans. (Gilbert, 1886) ; Bear Creek, Boone County, Mo. (Call 

 1887) ; Solomon River, Beloit, Kans. ; north fork of Solomon River, Kirwin 

 Kans.; Saline River, Wakeeney, Kans.; Smoky Hill River, Wallace, Kans 

 (Hay, 1887) ; Sappa Creek, Oberlin, Kans. ; La Cygne, Kans. ; Solomon River 

 Wano, Kans. (Gilbert, 1889) ; Marais River, Dixon, Mo. (Meek, 1891) ; Big 

 Sioux River at Sioux City and Sioux Falls, and Boyer River at Arion, Iowa 

 (Meek, 1892); Platte River at South Bend and Fremont; Elkhorn River 

 at Fremont; Blue River at Crete; Salt Creek at Liucoln; Floyd River at 

 Lemars and Sioux City (Meek, 1894) ; and Dover, S. Dak. (Butler, 1896). 



This sunfish was obtained at the following places: Rock and Firesteel 

 creeks and Dakota River, Mitchell ; Prairie Creek, Scotland ; pond at Norfolk 

 Junction, and Blue River at Stewart. A total of 88 specimens are in the 

 collection, all but 30 being from the streams about Mitchell. While this 

 species is abundant about Mitchell it does not appear to be so elsewhere. 

 The most Avesterly point at which we found it in Nebraska is Norfolk Junction. 

 Evidently its range does not extend so far to the westward as does that of 

 A. cyancUus. The life colors are very bright; belly, spots on sides and three 

 or four rows on cheek rich orange; ventrals, anal, and tip of dorsal, orange; 

 iris red. This sunfish does not reach so large a size as A. cyanellus, but it is, 

 nevertheless, of considerable value as a pan fish. 



113. Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque. Osage Fork, Marshfield, Mo. ; Lock Fork, 



Mansfield, Mo. (Meek, 1891). 



114. Lepomis pallidus (Mitchill). Blue-gill Sunfish. Missouri River, St. Joseph, 



Mo. (Jordan & Meek, 1885) ; Little Piney River at Newburg and Arlington, 

 Mo. ; Big Piney River, Cabool, Mo. ; Gasconade River, Arlington, Mo. ; Osage 

 Fork, Marshfield, Mo. (Meek, 1891) ; Spirit Lake (Meek, 1894). 



