366 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



the lake, that the habits of one or the other, or both, should change 

 somewhat and that they should again begin to invade each other's 

 habitat, and to interbreed. However rarely this might occur, no one 

 will deny its possibility. The result of this interbreeding would be 

 the appearance of Individuals possessing morphological characters 

 more or less intermediate between the lake and the creek forms. In 

 other words, individuals would be found showing that the two forms 

 intergrade and placing them again in the relation of species and sub- 

 species. If we could Icnow this to have been their history, however, we 

 would certainly not place them in the relation of species and subspecies. 

 We would regard them as two distinct species, and the individuals 

 which seem to show intergradation we would call hybrids, which they 

 really are. But we can rarely, if ever, l-noic that such has been the 

 history. So long as intergradations are found connecting the two 

 forms, the one last discovered must be regarded as a subspecies of the 

 other, but in the present case no intergradations seem to exist, and the 

 relation is that of two distinct species. 



Hadropterus maxinkuckiensis Evermann, new species. 



Head 3.75; depth 6; eye 4.5; snout 4.2; maxillary 3.25; mandible 2.75; interorb- 

 ital 6; pectoral 1.3; ventral 1.4; D. xiv, 13; A. ii, 9; scales 7-62-10, 



Body rather long, slender, and subterete; caudal peduncle somewhat compressed, 

 its least width one-half its least depth; head rather long, snout pointed; mouth 

 rather large, somewhat oblique, maxillary reaching anterior edge of pupil; lower 

 jaw included ; eye rather large, slightly above axis of body ; interorbital moderately 

 wide, nearly flat; gill-membranes free from each other and from the isthmus; opercle 

 with a rather long flap and stout spine; premaxillaries not protractile; flns rather 

 large ; distance from origin of spinous dorsal to tip of snout slightly greater than 

 base of spinous dorsal, or nearly twice base of soft dorsal; longest dorsal spine 2.75 

 in head ; soft dorsal higher than spinous portion, 2.25 in head, the free edge gently 

 curved; origin of anal under that of soft dorsal, its base 1.9 in head; caudal slightly 

 emarginate. 



Scales firm and strongly ctenoid ; lateral line complete and straight, beginning 

 over opercular spine; top of head and an oblong area on nape naked; space in front 

 of spinous dorsal with small embedded scales; opercle with about seven rows of 

 scales; cheek with a few small embedded scales; breast naked, except two or three par- 

 tially embedded scales on median line ; one large scale between veutrals ; belly uaked 

 anteriorly, but with about 10 enlarged, stellate scales posteriorly ; space between 

 ventrals broad, equal to width of base of ventral; jireopercle smooth. 



Color in life essentially as in H. acierus; mottled and vermiculated with light and 

 dark brown, or blackish, the middle line of back with about 9 large, roundish, dark, 

 confluent areas, each surrounded by a wavy, whitish line; middle of side with 

 about 7 large confluent dark spots, the anterior two largest and longest, the third 

 small, the fourth large, and the remaining three progressively smaller; under parts 

 yellowish white; top of head dark; a narrow whitish line around upper posterior 

 part of orbit; a broad black line downward from eye; upper part of preopercle and 

 nearly whole opercle dark, each dusted on lower part; cheek dusted with fine dark 

 specks; an irregular pale area at anterior end of lateral line; spinous dorsal ashy, 

 membrane of the first three spines black on middle portion, the other membranes 

 dark, but less distinctly so; tips of last few spines dark; soft dorsal light brownish 

 or grayish, crossed near the base by a series of dark spots and above by two series 

 of whitish spots ; caudal spotted with white and brown; anal white, dusted with 

 brownish; ventrals whitish, with fine dark dustings; pectoral whitish, yellowish at 

 base, followed by alternating series of dnsky and whitish spots. 



