ETHEOSTOMA 305 



8 narrower dark bluish bands more or less completely encircle the belly; 

 paired, anal, and caudal fins golden, brown-spotted; middle half of the first 

 dorsal crimson; a series of round crimson spots near the base of the second 

 dorsal; occiput, a band on muzzle, and one below eye, black; a black spot on 

 operculum and one at base of pectoral; females duller and speckled, with 

 ventrals barred and lateral bars feebler " (Jordan and Evermann) . Preserved 

 male specimens with whole body and fins more or less dusky, obscuring 

 color pattern: dorsal, anal, pectorals, and ventrals a dark smoky blue, densest 

 in the membranes; bars on body 11 or 12, only the last 7 or 8 (behind tips 

 of reflexed pectorals) distinct; second dorsal, anal, and pectorals (and ventrals 

 of females) barred in the rays; first dorsal with a row of large dark spots in 

 membranes near base, and barred in rays of upper half. Head rather small, 

 short, 4 to 4.9 in length; width of head 1.6 to 1.9 in its length; interorbital 

 space 5.3 to 6.9; eye small, round, not protruding, 2.9 to 3.7 in head; nose 

 short, blunt, and scarcely decurved, 3.2 to 4 in head; mouth small, subin- 

 ferior, maxillary scarcely past front of orbit; cleft 3.4 to 4.8 in head; jaws 

 nearly equal; gill-membranes connected across isthmus in a broad curve, dis- 

 tance from muzzle to their free margin about 1% to lj/ times that from 

 muzzle to back of orbit. Dorsal fin X or XI, 10-12; spinous and soft por- 

 tions scarcely separated at base; height of first dorsal 1.7 to 2.1 in head, 

 second 1.4 to 1.7 (height of first 76 to 94 per cent. of second); caudal lunate; 

 anal II, 7 or 8; pectorals .9 to 1 in head; separation of ventrals less than 

 % their width at base. Scales 6, 46-53, 6 or 7 [8 or 9], weakly ctenoid; 

 lateral line nearly straight and usually complete, 2 to 6 pores occasionally 

 lacking; cheeks, opercles, and nape fully scaled; breast usually fully scaled, 

 sometimes partly naked; belly covered with ordinary scales. 



The banded darter is one of the typical members of its sub- 

 family, but with an extraordinary distribution in Illinois. It is 

 limited, according to our experience, to the northern half of the 

 state, with the exception of a single collection from the Wabash, 

 and is distinguished also by its frequency in the smaller rivers 

 rather than in streams which could be classed as creeks. Our 

 thirty-five collections, from almost as many localities, give us a 

 frequency coefficient of 4.42 for small rivers, 1.37 for creeks, and 

 .2 for the larger rivers, the species not having occurred at all in 

 standing water of any description. In the streams which it 

 inhabits, it is found almost wholly in the swifter parts on a 

 bottom of rock or sand. 



The general distribution of this darter extends from Lake 

 Erie westward through Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa to Mankato, 

 Mont., southward to the Saline and Washita rivers in Arkansas, 

 to the Black Warrior in Alabama, to the Holston in Virginia, 

 and to the French Broad in North Carolina. It is said by Jordan 

 and Evermann to occur commonly in small clear streams, and 

 to be locally abundant in weedy or gravelly places. 



