1950 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



body, except lower part of caudal peduncle, thickly covered with slender 

 papilla? ; those of anterior and upper parts of body each tipped with a 

 spine, many of those on head with median pores ; top of head with a me- 

 dian lengthwise depression. Head narrowed anteriorly, the maxillary 

 extending to beyond pupil ; opercular and preopercular spines as in Coitus 

 asper-, lateral line not complete; spinous dorsal low; soft dorsal and anal 

 high; caudal long; pectorals about reaching anal; ventrals rather broad, 

 reaching about halfway to anal. Olivaceous, barred and spotted as in 

 other species ; fins mottled ; spinous dorsal pale at base and tip, with a 

 median broad black band; 2 dark blotches at base of caudal. Length 

 4 inches. The specimens here described from Provo River at Provo, where 

 it is associated with the smooth form called whceleri, which differs only 

 in its smooth skin. In specimens from the Yellowstone Park the band 

 of palatine teeth is very broad; there are no prickles on the skin. 

 The head is 3 in length and the rays are D. VII, 17 ; A. 13 ; V. I, 4. Com- 

 paring these (Gibbon River, Wyoming) with specimens of Coitus ictalops, 

 from Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, the differences seem well marked. Coi- 

 tus semiscaber has the head blunter, lower, and more rounded, the cheeks 

 more tumid and the top of the head without median longitudinal depression. 

 Coitus ictalops has the axil prickly, the outline of the head angular, the 

 top of the head with a median longitudinal depression from snout to nape, 

 and the body has broad distinct black cross bars. These 2 forms seem 

 like distinct species, but other specimens are intermediate ; specimens from 

 Torch Lake, Michigan, agree with semiscaber in color, and are intermediate 

 in form ; specimens from White River, Indiana, are colored like ictalops, but 

 are intermediate in form. Apparently semiscaber should be recognized as 

 a species, but its range and distinctive characters are yet to be made out 

 in detail, (semiscaber, half rough.) 



Cottopsis semiscaber,* COPE, Hayden SurA r ey of Montana, 476, 1871 (1872), Fort Hall, Idaho; 



JORDAN & GILBERT, Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 1880, 459; JORDAN, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm. 



1889, 53. 



Uranidea semiscabra, JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 695, 1883. 

 Uranidea vheeleri, COPE, Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc. Phila. 1874, 138, Bear River, Utah. (Coll. 



Lieut. G. M. Wheeler.) 

 Uranidea vheeleri, COPE & YARROW, Zool.Wheeler's Expl.W. 100th mer., v, 696, pi. 32, figs, 



3, 3a, -3b, 1876; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 697. 

 Coitus bairdi punctulatus, JORDAN, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm. 1889, 29, 36, 53 ; with plate. 



2321. COTTUS ICTALOPS (Rafinesque). 

 (MILLER'S THUMB; BLOB; MUFFLE-JAW; BULLHEAD; SPRINGFISH.) 



Head 3|; depth 4 to 6. D. VI to VIII, 16 or 17; A. about 12; V. I, 4. 

 Body slender or stout, tapering regularly backward to the tail; vertex 



* Cottopsis semiscaber is thus described by Professor Cope : 



' Radii, D. VII, 18 ; A. 13 ; V. I, 4 ; first ray of anal below third of second dorsal. Skin 

 prickly above the lateral line, smooth below it posteriorly. Body compressed, profile 

 rising rather steeply to the basis of first dorsal fin. Eye 4.5 times in head, .75 time in 



interorbital space. Muzzle contracted, maxillary bone reaching to below middle of pupil. 

 1 wo spines on preoperculum ; 1 on inferior angle of operculum. Lateral line discontinued 

 -"h of caudal peduncle. Head 1 length, without caudal fin. Below yellow; 

 n 8e h le * f dark 8pots; sides with large dark clou<l8 ' Three specimens 



