152 PAPERS ON ZOOLOGY OF MICHIGAN. 



outer edge, sides of the body with about ten feruginous spots inter- 

 spersed with bluish dusky ones, below yellowish white. 



29. Cottus idalops (Rafinesque). Common Sculpin. — Sculpins are 

 common on the Lake Superior shoal (Station 1), where they appear 

 to frequent the pebble zone. Many were also found in Shelldrake 

 River in the thick submerged masses of tape grass and stonewort, and 

 a few were caught in Shelldrake Lake. They appeared to be scarce 

 in the marsh lakes, as none were found in the many collections made 

 from them by the writer. But in the summer of 1914, Mr. N. A. Wood 

 caught two in the marsh lakes in three or four feet of water, one on a 

 sandy bottom and the other over a mud bottom. Aquatic plants were 

 absent in both places. No sculpins were found in the beach ponds or 

 in the streams draining the marsh lakes except at their mouths. It 

 should be stated, however, that this data on the distribution of sculpins 

 in the Whitefish Point region probably has little significance owing 

 to the difficulty of getting them with nets or of seeing them in the water. 



Some thirty specimens were taken. These "were 1 to 3.5 inches in 

 length. One from Shelldrake River had a large, burrowing May-fly 

 larva in its stomach as well as fragments of other insects. A sculpin 

 was found in the stomach of a small pike taken in the Shelldrake River. 



30. Lota maculosa (LeSueur). Burbot. — Two of these were taken, 

 — one at Station 1 on the Lake Superior shoal and one in the mouth of 

 Yermilion Creek. They were both small specimens, 2.5 to 7 inches in 

 length. The largest one was colored as follows: above light greenish 

 yellow mottled with darker, a violet reflection on the caudal fin, lower 

 parts and lower fins white, the latter with a bluish and pinkish tinge. 



The stomach of the larger specimen contained the remains of five or 

 more small fish and chironomid larvae. The habits of the fish are 

 similar to those of sculpins, hence few were noted. Residents of Ver- 

 milion say that they are common in Lake Superior. If so, their pre- 

 daceous habits make them important enemies of fish in this bod}^ of 

 water. Forbes (1888) found young perch, young whitefish, and a 

 crayfish in the stomachs examined, and he considers young perch an 

 important article of food for this species. 



HYPOTHETICAL LIST OF SPECIES. 



It is evident that only a month of collecting and observing would 

 almost certainly not reveal all the species of fish found in the region 

 studied. Lake Superior shoal forms could easily be overlooked and fish 

 that visit this region at other times of the yeax would not be found. 

 It was, therefore, considered advisable to attempt to make a list of 

 species not found by the writer but probably present in the region, as a 

 guide to future collectors. 



