40 FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 


long as the head without the snout. The ventral reaches nearly to the anal. The 
anal begins under the twenty-first scale of the lateral line ; its base is as long as the 
dorsal base, and its longest ray is about two-thirds as long as the head. The caudal 
is large and moderately forked. The lateral line curves downward over the pec- 
toral. D. 8; A.9; V.8; P. 14; scales, 6-38 to 41-4; teeth, 1, 4-4, 1, with more or 
less serrate edges. Length of specimen described, from the Susquehanna river, 
four inches. In spirits the back is brown, the sides dull silvery, the scales with a 
dusky margin, and the lower parts are whitish. A narrowand long black blotch on 
the membrane between the sixth and seventh, and another between the seventh and 
eighth dorsal rays. Lower fins pale. Males in spring have the fins partly or wholly 
charged with white pigment, and in the height of the breeding season the pigment 
in the dorsal has a greenish tint, and the top of the head and snout is covered with 
minute tubercles. 
The silver-fin ranges from western New York to Virginia and west to 
Minnesota and Arkansas. It is a common species and a variable one. 
It reaches a length of four inches. In Pennsylvania it occurs in all the 
rivers and creeks, but, according to Prof. Cope, is least common in tribu- 
taries of the Delaware. 
It is one of our finest minnows for the aquarium, and is useful as food 
and bait for larger fishes. 
53. Notropis megalops Rarinesque. 
The Rough Head. 
The rough-head when young has the body moderately elongate, butit becomes deeper 
with age, and much compressed. The caudal peduncle is short, and its depth equals 
length of postorbital part of head. The depth of the body at the ventral is contained 
three and one-third to four times in the total length without the caudal. The head 
isshort, deep and thin, its length one-fourth of the total without caudal, its width 
about one-half its length. The eye is as long as the snout, and two-sevenths as long 
as the head. Mouth moderate, terminal, oblique, the maxilla reaching about to ver- 
tical through front of eye. The dorsal origin 1s over, and the ventral origin under 
the twelfth scale of the lateral line. The length of the dorsal base equals one-seventh 
of the total without the caudal, and its longest ray one-fifth of the same length. The 
ventral reaches nearly or quite to vent. The anal origin is under the twenty-third 
scale of the lateral line. The anal base is one-half, and the longest ray two-thirds as 
long asthe head. The caudal is large and deeply forked. The lateral line descends 
in a long curve, becoming straight and median over the anal origin. D.8; A. 9; V. 
8; P. 15; scales, 7-40 to 41-4; teeth, 2, 4-4, 2, with narrow grinding surface. Length 
of specimens described, from four to four and one-half inches. 
This is the common shiner, and has received the additional names of 
red-fin, dace and rough-head. The species is very widely distributed, 
and is extremely variable, and as a consequence some geographical 
races have received distinct names. It extends from Maine to the Rocky 
Mountains, but is absent from the Carolinas and Texas. It grows to a 
length of eight inches. © 
The upper parts of this fish are steel blue, and the scales are dusky at 
the edge and base. The sides are silvery, overlaid with a gilt line; 
there is another gilt band along the back. The belly is silvery, except 
in spring males, in which it is a bright rosy color. The male, in the 
breeding season, has the lower jaw and the top of the head and nape 
