FISHES OF NEW YORK 141 



Notropis Jntdsonius JORDAX, Cat. Fish. N. A. 24, 1885; BEAN, Pishes Penna* 

 38, 1893; JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 269, 1896, pi. 

 XLVII, fig. 119. 



The spawn-eater has a moderately elongate and compressed 

 body, its greatest hight contained four and one half times in 

 the total length without caudal, and about equal to length of 

 head. The head is conical, with short, blunt snout equal to the 

 diameter of the eye, which is contained three and one half times 

 in the length of the head. The space between the eyes equate 

 length of postorbital part of head. Mouth small, nearly hori- 

 zontal, the lower jaw very slightly the shorter, the maxilla 

 reaching the vertical through the posterior nostril. The lateral 

 line is slightly curved downward over the pectoral, straight and 

 median for the rest of its course. The origin of the dorsal is 

 over, and of the ventral under, the 13th scale of the lateral line. 

 The dorsal base is two thirds as long as the head, and the 

 longest ray as long as the head. The ventral reaches nearly 

 or quite to the vent. The anal origin is under the 24th scale 

 of the lateral line; the anal base is one half and the longest 

 anal ray four fifths as long as the head. The caudal is large- 

 and deeply forked, its middle rays half as long as the outer. 

 D. 8; A. 8 or 9; V. 8; P. 14. Scales 7-38-5; teeth 2, 4-4, 1 or 2, 

 with a narrow grinding surface on at least two. Length of 

 specimens described from Washington D. C. 3J to 4J inches. 

 Color in spirits pale brown, the fins and all of head except upper 

 surface pale; a broad median silvery band, its greatest width 

 about equal to diameter of eye; a dusky spot at the root of the 

 caudal in the young. 



The spawn-eater is said to occur from Lake Superior to New 

 York and southward. In Pennsylvania begins a form elsewhere 

 described as N. a m a r u s , which differs in the structure of 

 the pharyngeal teeth. 



This minnow does not much frequent small streams, but is 

 abundant in the Delaware river and also in Lake Erie. De Kay 

 records its occurrence in the Hudson and its tributaries. 



In the Lake Ontario region the U. S. Fish Commission col- 

 lectors obtained numerous specimens in these localities. 



