FISH OF ONTARIO. 27 



Southward and in the Mississippi basin this is the best known of all 

 the Buffalo fishes. It reaches a length of three feet and a weight of thirty- 

 five pounds. 



The only Ontario record I have is that of a specimen in the Fisheries 

 Museum at Ottawa, said to have been taken in this Province. 



Genus CARPIODES. (Carp Suckers.) 



Body oblong, the dorsal outline more or less arched ; ventral outline 

 nearly straight ; depth from one-half to one-third of length ; sides com- 

 pressed ; the back sharp edged ; caudal peduncle short and deep ; head 

 short and deep, its upper surface rounded ; eye moderate, median or 

 anterior; suborbital bones well developed; fontanel present; mouth small, 

 horizontal and inferior ; mandible short ; lips thin, the upper protractile, 

 narrow, the lower narrow ; lips freely plicate or nearly smooth ; jaws with- 

 out cartilaginous sheath ; muciferous system moderately developed ; oper- 

 cular apparatus well developed, the subopercle broad ; isthmus moderate ; 

 pharyngeal bones remarkably thin, laterally compressed, with a shallow 

 furrow along the anterior margin on the inside, and another more central 

 on the outline of the enlarged surfaces; teeth very small, compressed, 

 nearly equally thin along the whole inner edge of the bone, forming a fine, 

 comblike crest of minute serratures, their cutting edge rising above the 

 inner margin into a prominent point ; gill rakers slender and stiff above, 

 becoming reduced downward ; scales large, about equal over the body ; 

 lateral line well developed, nearly straight ; dorsal fin long, nearly median, 

 somewhat in advance of ventrals, falcate, its anterior rays elevated, often 

 filamentous ; caudal fin well forked, the lobes equal ; anal fin comparatively 

 long and low, few-rayed ; ventrals rather short, usually with ten rays ; 

 pectorals short, placed low ; air bladder with two chambers. Size medium 

 or rather large. 



t5* 



(17) Drum. Lake Carp. 



(Carpiodes thompsoni.) 



Body short and stout, the back strongly arched. Head short, the 

 snout acutely pointed; lips thin, white, meeting at a wide angle; tip of 

 lower jaw much in advance of nostrils ; eye small ; dorsal about median, 

 its rays considerably elevated, the longest two-thirds as long as base of 

 fin. Scales rather closely imbricated, 8-39 to 41-6. 



D., 27; A., 7; v., 10. 



This fish ranges from the upper St. Lawrence to Lake Huron, and 

 is common in Lake Erie. It is not valued as a food fish, its flesh being 

 coarse and not well flavored. 



It attains a weight of five or six pounds. 



