APPENDIX. 



BLUE DARTER; RAINBOW DARTER (Etheostoma coeruleum). 



Head 3I, depth 4I, eye 4 to 4^ in head, little shorter than snout, D. 

 IX to XII 12 to 14. A. II., 7 or 8; scales 5 2>7 to 50 10 usually 5 

 45=10 pores 18 to 35. Body robust, rather deep and compressed, the 

 back somewhat elevated. Head large, compressed. Mouth moder- 

 ate, terminal, oblique, the lower jaw somewhat included the maxillary, 

 reaching- front of orbit ; opercular spine moderate ; g-ill membranes not 

 connected. Palatine teeth in one row. Cheeks naked or nearly so, 

 opercles scaled ; neck and breast usually naked. Fins all large, dorsal 

 fins usually slightly connected. Anal spines subequal, or the first a little 

 the longer : caudal rounded ; pectoral nearly or quite as long as head. 



Males olivaceous tessellated above, the spots running together into 

 blotches; back without black lengthwise stripes; sides with about 12 

 indigo blue bars running obliquely downward and backward, most dis- 

 tinct behind, separated by bright orange interspaces ; caudal fin deep 

 orange, edged with bright blue, anal fin orange, with deep blue in front 

 and behind ; soft dorsal, chiefly orange, blue at base and tip ; spinous 

 dorsal, crimson at base, then orange with blue edgings ; ventrals deep 

 indigo ; cheeks blue ; throat and breast orange ; females much duller, 

 with little blue or red, the vertical fins barred or checked ; young 

 variously marked, no dark humeral spot. Length 2^ inches. 



Gayest of all the Darters, and indeed the gaudiest of all fresh water 

 fishes. 



It makes its home in the ripples and shallows of the rivers and in 

 the shady retreats of brooks. 



It is a chubby little fish as compared with the other Darters. In its 

 movements it is awkward and ungraceful, though swift and savage as a 

 Pike. One of the mildest of its tricks which we have noticed is this. It 

 would gently put its head over a stone and catch a water boatman by 

 one of its swimming legs, release it, catch it again and again release it, 

 until at last the boatman evidentlv much annoyed swam away out of its 

 reach. It will follow to the surface of the water a piece of meat sus- 

 pended by a string. It is more alert in discovering this than a hungry 

 .Sunfish or Rock Bass, and it can be led around like a pet lamb by a 

 thread to which is fastened a section of a worm. (Jordan and Evermann). 



While this work was in the printers' hands, I took several specimens 

 of this beautiful fish in a swift, rocky stream, flowing through the eastern 

 side of the County of York. 



LONG=NOSED DACE (Rhinicthjs cataracts). 



At the same place where I found the Blue Darter, this species was 

 abundant; it is probable therefore that it is more generally distributed 

 through the Province than has been heretofore supposed. 



[105] 



