422 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



gish, grassy creeks of the prairie region. Wherever we found a small pond 

 or slowly flowing stream with plenty of aquatic vegetation and a more or 

 less muddy bottom, there we found this little darter in large numbers. Sim- 

 ilar ponds or streams in Texas yield Boleichthys fusiformis, while in such 

 places in the lower Wabash Basin we find Ethcostoma chhrosoma. 



The following description is based primarily upon the specimens from 

 Creighton: Head 3£; depth 5£; eye 5; snout 4|. D. vin to x-9 to 11; A. 

 II, 7 ; scales 6-53-7, the lateral line arched anteriorly, incomplete, developed 

 on about 30 scales. Body rather long and slender, resembling E.fuslforme, 

 anterior part of back elevated, the caudal peduncle long; head moderate, 

 snout rather short, blunt and decurved; mouth small, nearly horizontal, the 

 lower jaw included; maxillary reaching pupil; premaxillaries not protrac- 

 tile; gill membranes scarcely connected. Vertical fins high in male, lower 

 in female; pectoral about as long as head; dorsals usually well separated; 

 anal smaller than soft dorsal, the first spine the stronger. Scales strongly 

 ctenoid ; opercle usually pretty well scaled and some scales on cheek ; there 

 is, however, much variation in these characters ; ventral line with ordinary 

 scales; nape scaled, breast naked. Colors in life: male with 10 or 11 brick- 

 red vertical bars, the first under the pectoral; these bars are somewhat 

 irregular in position and extent, but they do not meet under the belly nor 

 do they usually reach above the lateral line ; interspaces between the red 

 bars two or three times as wide and pale greenish; head and back rusty or 

 grayish; a dark line downward from the eye and another forward to tip 

 of snout; opercle and region in front of pectoral silvery; basal half or 

 two-fifths of spinous dorsal dark green, above this a broad, bright-red band, 

 then a narrow, pale-blue line, narrowly bordered above by paler; soft dorsal 

 mottled with light rusty; caudal with about five ashy crossbars ; pectorals 

 and anal nearly plain ; ventrals plain ; female without any bright colors, the 

 general color rusty greenish, the dorsals and caudal mottled or barred with 

 olivaceous. 



In alcohol these specimens show the following colors : Body light coffee- 

 color, small brown spots arranged in somewhat obscure longitudinal series, 

 plainest on back and caudal peduncle; side with about 10 or 11 irregular, 

 dark cross blotches ; back with 6 or 7 dark cross blotches ; under parts pale ; 

 head dusted with dark; a dark line downward from the eye, another for- 

 ward on upper jaw, meeting its fellow on snout. In the male, the spinous 

 dorsal has at the base a broad brown band two-fifths height of fin, this 

 followed by a pale strip of equal width, then a narrow dark strip, and the 

 fin finally pale along the margin; in the female these stripes are broken up 

 into dots; soft dorsal, caudal, anal, and pectorals barred or vermicnlated 

 with light brown; ventrals pale. The variations in the squamation and in 

 the fin formulas are very great, and must be carefully considered in deter- 

 mining the relationships of this and kindred species. 



First, as to the squamation. Twenty-one examples were carefully exam- 

 ined, and the number of scales in the lateral line varied from 50 to 58, there 

 being 50 scales in 1, 51 in 2, 52 in 2, 53 in 5, 54 in 3, 55 in 3, and 58 in 5. The 

 number of developed pores in the lateral line ranges from 17 to 31. The 

 number of scales in a transverse series varies from 10 to 15, counting from 

 front of soft dorsal to middle line of belly. Usually the cheeks and opercles 

 are fairly well scaled ; in some cases they are densely scaled, while in others 

 there are but few scales on the opercle, and still fewer or even none on the 

 cheek. These specimens, with imperfect squamation of cheeks and opercles, 

 are the form described under the name Mheostoma quappelle, by Eigenmann 

 & Eigenmann. 



