Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 325 



In the autumn the young of this fish appear to be fond of hid- 

 ing under logs and stones in shallow water. They also hide among 

 Chara in the winter and are occasionally raked up with other fishes. 

 The stomachs of a few individuals examined contained crawfish. 



The habits of this fish, the methods of its capture, and its food 

 qualities are not essentially different from those of the common 

 bullhead, and are discussed more fully in connection with that 

 species. 



Head 3.66 ; depth 4 ; eye 10 ; snout 3.66 ; D. I, 6 ; A. 26 ; maxil- 

 lary barbel 1.33 in head; nasal barbel 2.25. Body short and stout; 

 head heavy; jaws subequal ; eye small; barbels moderate; origin of 

 dorsal fin nearer tip of snout than to origin of adipose fin ; dorsal 

 spine short, equal to snout and eye, or 1'^ in longest dorsal ray ; 

 anal large, its base 4 in body; pectoral fin short, 2.5 in head ; caudal 

 fin regularly rounded. 



Color, dark olivaceous yellow above, becoming clearer on sides ; 

 yellowish white below maxillary and nasal barbels. 



7. COMMON BULLHEAD 



AMEIURUS NEBULCSUS (Le Sueur) 



(Plate 4) 



Though this is the Common Bullhead or Horned Pout of every 

 pond or sluggish stream of the east and north, it is not so abund- 

 ant at Lake Maxinkuckee as the Yellow Cat. The two species are 

 usually associated and are not usually differentiated by fishermen. 

 The characters most useful for diagnostic purposes are the color 

 and the number of anal rays, the Common Bullhead being more or 

 less marbled or mottled and having but 21 or 22 anal rays, while 

 the yellow cat is quite uniform in color on the back and sides and 

 has 23 to 27 anal rays. The two species in Lake Maxinkuckee 

 reach about the same size — 1 to 3 pounds, very rarely more — and 

 have essentially the same habits. 



They are, as every one knows, bottom feeders ; and most of 

 them frequent those shallower parts of the lake where there is mud 

 bottom, where they feed upon crawfish and some of the softer- 

 shelled mollusks, as Sph^erium, and the young of various species of 

 Unionidse. They are also said to feed pretty extensively on the 

 eggs of other species of fishes. One example was found gorged 

 with water-lily seeds. A young one 2.125 inches long, raked up 

 in Chara December 22, 1904, contained a beach flea. Their spawn- 

 ing time is in late May and June. This seems to be a period of 

 considerable mortality among them, and a good many are found 

 dead on shore about this time. The eggs are relatively large and 



