3O0 Roo.u-vcit Wild Life Annals 



noted them from the deep water of Saginaw Bay. Greeley {2j. p. 57 j found 

 Common Suckers abundant in the Genesee System of New York State, in both 

 warm and cold waters, and found it to be the only sucker common in trout streams. 

 In Oneida Lake large suckers are evidently abundant in the deep water since 

 none was seen or caught in shallow water, though many large ones were found 

 dead. Their abundance in deep water was further attested by the statements of 

 lake fishermen. We obtained one specimen (No. 519) of this species, about 

 10 inches long, in a gill-net set at a depth of 12 feet. 



Food. Baker ('16, p. 164) examined the stomachs of three adult .specimens 

 from Oneida Lake and found mud, plant remains, mollusks and insects in them. 

 Hankinson ('08, p. 207) took large suckers in Walnut Lake, which had eaten a 

 variety of food : caddis-worms with their cases, midge larvae and other insects, 

 small bivalve mollusks, amphipods. and Entomostraca. Young suckers in Oneida 

 Lake appear to feed largely on Entomostraca. Baker ('16, p. i66j and Forbes 

 ('80, p. "/T,) got similar results from two small ones examined. Reighard ('15, 

 p. 224) examined a young sucker 2 inches long from Douglas Lake, that had been 

 feeding on the sandshoals, September i, 191 1. Shells of a species of Cladocera 

 filled its alimentary canal; but only 2 or 3 copepods were present. There was no 

 sand, so he concludes that the young suckers were feeding not upon bottom food 

 but wholly upon plankton. Hankinson ('16, p. 145) found the principal food of 

 eight little Common Suckers, about 2.5 inches long, from a shoal in Lake Superior, 

 to be chironomid larvae. Entomostraca, winged insects, and algae had also been 

 taken. Three larger suckers, 7 to 8 inches long, taken in some shallow ponds 

 near Lake Superior, had eaten chiefly chironomid larvae and algae. According to 

 Kendall and Goldsborough ('08, p. 24), young fish between one and two inches 

 long were found feeding tipon diatoms, desmids, and blackfly larvae. 



Clemens {'2t„ p. 176; '24, p. 107, with Dymond, Bigelow, Adamstone, and 

 Harkness) made detailed studies of 184 Common Suckers from Lake Nipigon. 

 Ontario. By tabulated data it is shown that the species partakes abundantly of 

 invertebrate life and algae, including diatoms. Numerous species of water insects, 

 with crustaceans, mollusks, rotifers, and protozoans are eaten. It is concluded 

 by these investigators ('24, p. 154) that as the suckers grow they add more and 

 more of the larger bottom organisms to their diet. Chironomid larvae form a con- 

 siderable proportion of the food of specimens between 2 and 8 inches in length. 

 Later considerable amounts of ephemerid nymphs, caddis-worms, mollusks, and 

 other large forms are taken. Algae, especially diatoms, and bottom plankton 

 continue to form considerable portions of their diet throughout life. Bigelow 

 ('24, p. 83), as results of his special studies of the food of this species, concludes 

 that the Common Sucker is largely a carnivorous fish in Lake Nipigon and that 

 although a considerable amount of ooze and diatoms was found to have been taken, 

 the bulk of the food ]iroved to lie animal matter. He has divided the early life of 

 the fish into tlircc peri(i<ls according to the nature of the food: (i) rotifer-eating 

 stage, length i.c; cm: (2) Cladoccra-eating stage, length 2.3-5 cm: (3) insecti- 

 vorous stage, over 5 cm in length. Adamstone (24, \). 78) reports on an exami- 

 nation of 39 Common Suckers. Amphipods, with chironomids and filamentous 

 algae formed a large part of the food. Dymond ('26, p. 39) states that the Com- 



