93 CHECK LIST OF THE 



dorsal, running rather high and slightly arched. Scales of belly like those 

 of the sides. Dorsal fins well separated, unusually short and small ; soft 

 dorsal a little higher than spinous dorsal, also unusually small for this 

 genus ; caudal long, truncate or slightly lunate ; anal low and short, its 

 spines high, the first highest ; pectorals reaching past tips of ventrals. 



D. IX., 10; A. II., 6 or 7. Scales, 4-52-10. 



Colour, soft dorsal caudal and pectoral fins with dark bars and a 

 brownish red tinge, other fins white ; a brownish red tinge on sides, most 

 conspicuous between the darker markings ; ten or eleven black bars across 

 the back, those on the sides are more or less broken up and not so evident. 

 Length, two and a-half inches. 



This Darter was first known only from a small stream near Mont- 

 real. Since then it has been found in Gull Lake, Muskoka. In all proba- 

 bility it inhabits many of the clear streams of central Ontario. 



FAMILY SERRANID^!. 



Body oblong, more or less compressed, covered with adherent scales 

 of moderate or small size, which are usually but not always ctenoid ; dorsal 

 and ventral outlines usually not perfectly corresponding. Mouth moderate 

 or large, not very oblique, the premaxillary protractile and the broad max- 

 illary usually not slipping for its whole length into a sheath formed by the 

 preorbital, which is usually narrow. Supplemental maxillary present or 

 absent. Teeth all conical or pointed, in bands, present on jaws, vomer 

 and palatines. Gill rakers long or short, usually stiff, armed with teeth. 

 Gills four, a long slit behind the fourth. Pseudobranchiae present, large. 

 Lower pharyngeals rather narrow, with pointed teeth. Gill membranes 

 separate, free from the isthmus. Branchiostegals normally seven (occa- 

 sionally six). Cheeks and opercles always scaly ; preopercle with its margin 

 more or less serrate, rarely entire ; the opercles usually ending in one or 

 two flat spine-like points. Nostrils double. Lateral line single, not 

 extending to the caudal fin. Skull without cranial spines and usually 

 without well developed cavernous structure. No suborbital stay. Post- 

 temporal normal, second suborbital with an internal lamina supporting 

 the globe of the eye ; enteroptygoid present ; all or most of the ribs inserted 

 on the transverse processes when these are developed ; anterior vertebrae 

 without transverse processes. Dorsal spines usually stiff ; anal fin rather 

 short, its soft rays seven to twelve ; its spines if present always three in 

 our species. Ventrals thoracic without distinct axillary scale. Pectorals 

 well developed, with narrow base, the rays branched. Caudal peduncle 

 stout. Air bladder present, usually small and adherent to the wall of the 

 abdomen. Stomach caecal, with few or many pyloric appendages ; intes- 

 tines short, as is usual in carnivorous fishes. 



