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3848 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. | 
The banks are low and without trees, the prairie grass and other 
vegetation growing to the water’s edge. The bed of the stream is of 
small gravel, mud, and decayed vegetation, from which grow rushes, 
pondweeds, and bladderworts (Utricularia). The stream was almost 
entirely devoid of fish life, owing, no doubt, to its having no direct | 
communication with the lake for several months in the year. | 
Two species of fish were taken, Lucius luctus and Notropis megalops, | 
and these were very rare. Crawfish were particularly abundant, and | 
one species of water-snail (Zimnea) was also abundant. Temperature — 
of the water, 78°; of the air, 75°, cooled by the recent rains. 
The following is a list of fishes taken from Lake Traverse basin. | 
The measurements are given in millimeters unless otherwise stated. 
| 
ANNOTATED LIST OF THE FISHES OF LAKE TRAVERSE BASIN. 
1. Pimephales notatus,(Rafinesque). Shiner; Creek Shiner. Daugherty Creek at | 
Browns Valley, rare. Shape and color much like P. promelas; head black, | 
snout blunt; fins dark, snout and lower jaw turbercled; lateral line with 4 
scales, not distinct anteriorly. | 
2. Notropis megalops (Rafinesque). Common Silverside; Brook Shiner. Muslinka 
River at Wheaton, 5 specimens. Daugherty Creek at Browns Valley, abund- 
ant. This species was particularly abundant. Specimens very dark—much 
darker than those from Little Minnesota River. Lateral line black; body | 
slightly deeper than in those from Little Minnesota River. 
3. Rhinicthys cataracte dulcis (Girard). Daugherty Creek at Browns Valley, 10 
specimens. Not common. Body moderately elevated; shoulders heavy; 
caudal peduncle compressed, but deep; head medium or small; line from 
snout to top of shoulders slightly concave; eyessmall; mouth horizontal and 
small, maxillary reaching about half the distance from snout to eye. Color | 
dark, almost black above, mottled with black blotches which extend to the_ 
lateral line; belly, cheeks, and lower jaws light; dorsal and caudal fins dark; 
ventral and anal fins light; rays of anal longer than those of any other fin, — 
nearly as long as head; ventrals half as long as anal; dorsal, 7; anal, 7; | 
scales, 63 to 70. / 
4. Hybopsis kentuckiensis(Rafinesque). Chub; River Chub. Daugherty Creek at_ 
Browns Valley, common. Color dark; caudal spot conspicuous in all speci- 
mens. Head 3} in body. 
5. Semotilus atromaculatus (Mitchill). Horned Dace. Daugherty Creek at 
Browns Valley, abundant. 
6. Lucius lucius (Linneus). Pike; Northern Pickerel. Muslinka River at Wheaton, 
12 specimens. Daugherty Creek at Browns Valley, abundant. Traverse 
Lake, not common. This is about the only food-fish in Traverse Lake. It 
ascends the creeks in great numbers in the spring of the year to spawn. 
7. Bucalia inconstans (Kirtland). Brook Stickleback. Daugherty Creek at Browns | 
Valley, 12 specimens. Color, dark olive with tessellations on sides; males 
almost black. This species prefers the cold water and sheltered places. | 
BIG STONE LAKE. | 
The valley occupied by this lake is very similar in character to that. 
occupied by Lake Traverse. There is a more marked slope of the 
surface of the country to the south than to the north. The country to 
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