336 Roosczrlt Wild Life Annals 



and he further adds. "I have usually found them heneath flat stones, or hidden hy 

 the overhanging banks of the brook." 



Food. The food of the variety dulcis in Colorado is thus given by Ellis 

 ('14, p. 67) : "The stomach contents of 20 sjiecimens from Boulder Creek near 

 Boulder showed that the algae and brown diatomaceous sliine so generally eaten by 

 herbivorous Cyprinids are important elements in the food of this minnow, forming 

 about two-thirds of the material. Small crustaceans, insect larvae, small snails 

 and water-logged material comprised the remaining third. It is known that the 

 Dulcis Minnow also eats the spawn of the trout. On the other hand, the Dulcis 

 Minnows are eaten by the trout, making the presence of these minnows in the 

 mountain streams of value." Hankinson ('16, p. 136) examined the stomach con- 

 tents of specimens in northern Michigan and found that the dace "were eating 

 black-fly larvae, which made up all of the material in the intestines of four of the 

 Dace opened." This observation has an important bearing on the economic value 

 of the fish. Clemens ('24, p. 113) found in seven specimens food composed of 

 Chirononiidac larvae to the extent of /7% ; Ephcmcridac, 7% ; Sida. 11%; and the 

 rest, other crustaceans, insect material, algae (Vlnthrix ] and fliatimis and in one 

 fish taken July 30, 1923, there were a hundred tish ^^i;l;^, making; u]) the entire 

 stomach contents, except for an insect fragment. Greeley ('27. ]>. do) analyzed 

 the food of three fish about }/^ inch long, taken July 2, 1926, in tin- ( "iencM.e 

 River, New York. They had eaten the following: midge larvae, adult mi<l^es. 

 May-fly nymphs, caddis-fly larvae, pollution worms (Tubificidae). filamentous 

 algae, including Ulothrix and Spirogyra, and diatoms. 



Distribution Records. One Oneida Lake specimen. No. 500, was taken in the 

 bav just west of Lewis Point, in shallow water at the edge of vegetation, on sand 

 bottom ; Nos. 447 and 458, from a small stream on the west side of East Potter 

 Bay : No. 460, from Black Creek at Cleveland : No. 553. from the small brook at 

 West \'ienna, a large series. No. 593, from the small, rapid brook at North Bay; 

 and No. 594. fmni .a small boulder studded pool in a stream ij^ miles east of West 

 Vienna. .All iIh --i' -inams are small, usually not more than 20 feet wide. 



Enemies and thsnise. Beyond the fact that trout prey upon this dace no 

 mention has been found of ]3redators or parasites. In our series there are several 

 diseased specimens. One (No. 533) has a nodular swelling at the base of the 

 dorsal fin, and another a large wart-like nodule, nearly a quarter of an inch in 

 diameter, anterior to the right eye; in another collection (No. 593) there is one 

 with a large blackened nodule on the left of the dorsal fin. and another with numer- 

 ous blackened areas on the >kin, soim' of them vertically elongated. Three fish 

 (No. 460) show .scattered pi-niented skin patches or small elevations. These are 

 possibly due to siwrozoans. ilankinson's observation that Siinulimn- larvae arc 

 eaten in numbers by this dace shows how much diseases may be easily transmitted, 

 because these lar\-ae are often hcavilv infested with sporozoans, as Strickland 



form a cycle of tnmsniissioii lor disease. 



Economic Relations. Our ])resent knowledge indicates that the main economic 

 value of this fish is its use as food for trout and as bait. Bean ('03, p. 154) thinks 

 that ■' \s a liait for the Black Bass it is scarcely surpassed." These dace can be 



