FISHES OF NEW YORK 155 



slightly oblique and with nearly equal jaws; the maxillary bar- 

 bel small or wanting; the maxilla reaches to below the front 

 edge of the posterior nostril. The dorsal origin is nearer to 

 root of caudal than to tip of snout, over the 26th scale of the 

 lateral line. The length of the base is contained two and one 

 third times in that of .the head, and the longest ray equals 

 length of head without snout. The ventral origin is slightly in 

 advance of the dorsal origin, and the fin extends to the vent. 

 The pectoral reaches to the 16th scale of the lateral line. In 

 breeding males it is greatly thickened. The anal origin is 

 behind the end of the dorsal base, under the 34th scale of the 

 lateral line; the flu is variable in length with sex and age, some- 

 times five sixths as long as the head. The caudal is small and 

 not deeply forked. The lateral line curves downward over the 

 pectoral, soon becoming median. D. ii, 6 or 7; A. ii, 6; V. 8; 

 P. 11. Scales 10-56 to 63-10; teeth 2, 4-4, 2, three of the prin- 

 cipal row strongly hooked. Length of the specimens described 

 (no. 33984, U. S. National Museum) 2f to 3 inches. In spirits 

 the upper parts are brown and are separated from the silvery 

 lower parts by a dark lateral band, as wide as the short diame- 

 ter of the eye and continued on the snout. Breeding males in 

 spring have the lateral band and the lower fins crimson, run- 

 ning into orange in summer. In the young the dark median 

 band extends on the tail fin. 



The black nosed dace or " rockfish " is represented in our 

 waters by two forms, one of which is found in the eastern part 

 of the Great lakes region and from Maine to Virginia; this is 

 replaced in the upper lake region and in the Ohio valley, south- 

 ward to Georgia and Alabama, by the blunt nosed variety, 

 Rhinichthys obtusus of Agassiz. 



The species grows to the length of 3 inches. 



The collections of the V. S. Fish Commission in the Lake Onta- 

 rio region contained this species from a great many localities: 

 Cape Vincent, Great Sodus bay, Sacketts Harbor, Stony Island, 

 Grenadier island, Oswego, Buena Vista, Belleville, Pulaski, 

 Wart creek, Huntingtonville, Henderson bay, and Webster. The 



