134 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



its favorite shelter is the yellow pond lily. It may be readily- 

 distinguished by its shape, which resembles that of the shad,, 

 and by the very long anal fin, which contains from 14 to 17 ray&. 

 The colors of this fish are greenish above and the sides silvery 

 with golden reflections. Fins usually yellowish; lower fins scar- 

 let in breeding males. 



Though the roach is not a good food fish, it is taken by the 

 hook in large numbers and is a very useful species for bait. 



The roach, writes Eugene Smith, is an active fish and lives> 

 well in the aquarium, becoming very familiar with its keeper. 

 Owing to the small size of its gullet, the smaller individuals- 

 will at length starve unless their food is much comminuted. 

 The fish spawned in captivity in May, and early in December of 

 the same year the young were 1J inches long. The adults do not 

 like earthworms, but feed freely on chopped hard clams. 



76 Abramis chrysoleucas roseus subsp- nov. 

 Irish Roach; Pearl Roach 



Abramis crysoleucas subspecies, BEAN, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. N. Y.. 

 IX, 334, 1897. 



The " Irish roach " or " pearl roach " of a lake in Central 

 park, New York city, is even more distinct from the typical 

 northern roach than is the subspecies b o s c i of the rivers of 

 1he South Atlantic states, and should receive a name. Thi& 

 form is readily distinguished from A. crysoleucas by its 

 short and deep body, uniform size of scales on all parts of the 

 body, and the permanent vermilion color of the peetoraj, ventral, 

 and anal fins. An example studied in the New York aquarium 

 has D. i, 7; A. i, 12; V. i. 8, scales 10-48-4; teeth 5-5, hooked, 

 crenate, and with a grinding surface. The lateral line appar^ 

 ently is not so strongly decurved as in A. crysoleucas. 



This is a beautiful fish and extremely shy in captivity. Two 

 females and a male were ready to spawn in the aquarium 

 about the end of June 1896. The females cast their eggs, but 

 they were immediately eaten by the fish. 



