FISHES OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 868 



The scales, very small at the anterior part of the trunk, increase 

 in size towards the tail, without, however, attaining to the dimensiona 

 of the species above mentioned, nor even to those of Q. Hudsonius. 

 This increase of the scales from the head to the tail is real, and agreea 

 with the imbrication. Their form is irregular and very variable, though 

 we may say that they are generally oblong, of greater length than 

 height, with convex margins, which are undulated, and never parallel 

 and straight, like the upper and lower margins of the scales in the pre- 

 ceding species. Now and then we may find a few circular ones, but 

 they are exceptions. Those which cover the shoulders are still much 

 larger than those situated between the pectoral fins on the lower sur- 

 face of the abdomen. The lateral line is median, slightly inflected on 

 the abdomen before the dorsal. It rises a little on the pedicle of the 

 caudal. The abdominal walls are covered with a blackish pigment. 

 The length of the intestinal canal is contained twice and a half in that 

 of the body. The pharyngeal bones, though having the same struc- 

 ture as in the preceding species, are, however, much more slender, 

 and their teeth are much more feeble, thinner, and sharper on their 

 extremity. 



The air bladder, equally divided into two compartments, presents 

 this difierence, that, instead of being cylindrical, the posterior com- 

 partment terminates in a pointed cone. The size and the relative 

 proportions remain almost the same in the two species. 



The color is an olive yellow, very dark on the back and head, 

 where it passes to the green on the sides. Following the course of 

 the lateral line there is a band of a very brilliant carmine red, without 

 precise outlines circumscribing it. In the females the red is less 

 lively, and the belly remains white. The dorsal, caudal, and pec- 

 toral fins are colored like the back ; the ventrals and the anal like 

 the abdomen, but of a more intense yellow. The rays are of an 

 olive-colored green. 



This species occurs frequently along the northern shores of Lake 

 Superior. I secured, however, most of my specimens at the Pic. 



Genus Alburnus, Heck. 



This genus has been known only in the Old World, until I dis- 

 covered the species described below, which was caught at the Sault 



