Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 1959 



ward; eye large, orbit 4 to 5 iii head; interorbital concave, 2 in orbit; 

 mouth large, maxillary reaching at least to below the pupil, about 2 in 

 head. Preopercle with a simple backward-directed spine, very slightly 

 curved upward. Teeth on jaws and vomer, none on palatines. Skin 

 smooth. Pectorals reaching vent, or further in the young ; ventrals \\ to 

 2 in head. Distance of anal from caudal 1^ in its distance from snout. 

 Anus nearer insertion of caudal than to end of snout. Mottled with 

 black and white; about 6 blackish cross bars on back, the lirst across 

 head just behind eyes, next at origin of dorsal; lirst dorsal tinged with 

 rusty, the second less so; all the lins except the ventrals spotted with 

 dark. The ground color varies greatly witli the bottom over which these 

 iishes live. (Eigemuaim.) Streams of Columbia River Basin, south to 

 Lake Lahontan ; abundant east of the Cascades. We find this species 

 abundant in shallow water in Lake Tahoe. Except by the stouter body, 

 we are unable to separate it from Coitus philonips, and perhaps Gilbert 

 & Evermann are right in identifying it with the latter. We refer to 

 Coitus beldintjii most of the specimens called Coitus philonips by Dr. Gilbert 

 and Dr. Evermann, witli the remark that the name Coitus beldingii is in any 

 event prior to Coitus philonips. 



Coitus bddingii is a small-headed form, typically with perfectly smooth 

 skin and unarmed palatines. Like most other species of the genus it 

 occasionally develops a band of postaxillary prickles, Avhich are often 

 accompanied in the same specimens by a small patch of teeth on the 

 palatine bones. The head is less strongly armed than usual, the single 

 preopercular spine being short, the preopercular margin otherwise wholly 

 unarmed. In this respect C. bddinyn differs from all other western 

 species of Coitus, except the Alaskan form above mentioned. The dorsal 

 varies from VII or VIII, 16 to 18 ; the anal from 12 to 14. The nostrils are 

 without tubes, and the preorbital little produced, exposing the greater 

 part of the maxillary in closed mouth. Specimens were obtained in the 

 Port Neuf River near Pocatello, at Snoqualmie Falls, and in a spring 

 branch emptying into the South Fork of the Conir d'Alene River, near 

 Wardner, Idaho. We have also seen specimens taken from Birch Creek, 

 in western Idaho, by Merriam and Bailey. (Named for Lyman Belding, 

 of Stockton, California, well known as an ornithologist.) 

 Coitus beldingii, EIGENMANN & EIGENMANN, Amer. Nat., xxv, 1891, 1132, Lake Tahoe 

 (Coll. Lyman Belding and C. H. Eigenmaiin), and Donner Lake (Coll. Eigenmann). 



2331. COTTUS PHILONIPS, Eigeniuamr& Eigenmann. 



Head 3f ; depth 6. D. IX-17; A. 13; eye 4 in head; maxillary 25 ; high- 

 est dorsal spine 3; highest soft ray 2^; pectoral^; caudal 1J-. Body ex- 

 tremely slender, not much compressed ; caudal peduncle moderate. Head 

 small, wedge-shaped, as viewed from above; from the side the upper pro- 

 file is broadly rounded from the dorsal to the tip of the rather sharp 

 snout, lower profile straight ; mouth moderate, the maxillary reaching to 

 middle of eye; teeth on jaws and vomer, palatines toothless; interorbital 

 space equals eye; eye about equal to length of snout; preopercle with 

 only 1 small spine above, below which its edge is entire; pectoral reach- 



