RHINICHTHYS 161 



olivaceous, paler below; sides with some spots and splotches of dark color, 

 but the mottling less prominent than in R. atronasus; back, sides, cheeks 

 and opercles, and caudal peduncle more or less densely punctulate with 

 dusky; lateral band indistinct; a black spot on 

 opercle; fins all plain, no spot at middle of base 

 of dorsal fin. (Spring males with lips, cheeks, 

 and lower fins crimson. Jordan & Evermann.) 

 Head long and greatly narrowed, the pointed 

 muzzle very prominent, 4 to 4.1 in length; width 

 of head 1.8 to 2.2; interorbital space 3.2 to 3.3 

 in head; eye 4.8 to 5.6; nose long and pointed, F 



twice the length of the eye, 2.2 to 2.5 in head; 



mouth wholly inferior and horizontal, tip of upper lip half way between 

 lower margin of orbit and chin; maxillary 2.9 to 3.1, extending a little past 

 anterior nostril; lower jaw much shorter than upper, the muzzle projecting 

 beyond tip of chin for a distance nearly equal to half length of snout; a small 

 maxillary barbel; isthmus twice diameter of orbit. Teeth, 2, 4-4, 2; peritone- 

 um finely but not very densely punctulate with brown. Dorsal fin with 8 

 rays, set behind ventrals, its distance from muzzle 15 to 20 per cent, greater 

 than to base of caudal; longest dorsal ray 1.2 in head; anal rays 7; pectorals 

 about y% to ventrals, 1.1 to 1.3 in head; ventrals short of front of anal, pass- 

 ing vent. Scales very small, 7 to 10, 63-70, 7 or 8; lateral line little decurved. 



This species, although very wide-spread and abundant under 

 its preferred conditions, has been very rare with us, being repre- 

 sented in all our collections by only four specimens, one obtained 

 near Waukegan, in northeastern Illinois, and three from Big 

 creek, near the town of Anna, in Union county, in the extreme 

 southern part of the state. It generally prefers clear, cold 

 streams a fact sufficient to account for its scarcity within our 

 limits. It ranges very widely north, south, east, and west, from 

 New Brunswick and the Province of Quebec through the Great 

 Lakes to the headwaters of the Missouri in Montana, northward 

 to the Saskatchewan, and across the mountains to the Columbia 

 River, southward along the Atlantic coast to the Potomac and 

 the James, and by way of the Mississippi Valley to the Rio 

 Grande. It is said to occur also in the Great Salt Lake basin 

 of Utah. 



