50 FISHES OF PENNSYLVANLA. 


diameter of eye. The mouth is large and placed low; the maxilla reaches to below 
front of eye; the lower jaw shorter than upper. The dorsal fin is slightly nearer to 
root of caudal than to tip of snout; its base is one-half as long as the head, and two- 
thirds as long as its longest ray. The ventral is under the front part of the dorsal; 
its length equals dorsal base. The anal begins under the twenty-fourth scale of the 
lateral line; its longest ray about one-seventh of total to base of caudal. The pec- 
toral is two-thirds as long as the head, and reaches to below the thirteenth scale of 
the lateral line. The caudal is moderately forked. D. iii,7; A. ili, 6; scales, 6-40 to 
45-5. The ground coloris bluish olive, the head darker; green and coppery reflec- 
tions on the sides. The fins are pale orange, pinkish in the spring, the lower parts 
white. Breeding males have the top of the head swollen into a crest and covered 
with coarse tubercles, from which arises the name horned chub; they also have 
sometimes a red spot on each side of the head. The young have a broad dark me- 
dian band and a dusky spot at the base of the tail. 
Names.—The horned chub is known in some localities as nigger chub, 
river chub and jerker; occasionally it is called horned dace or horny- 
head. 
Distribution.—The species ranges from Pennsylvania westward to 
Dakota and south to Alabama. In Pennsylvania it is common in the 
Susquehanna and the Ohio basin, but absent from the Delaware. It 
abounds in large rivers, and is rarely seen in small brooks. 
Size, etc.—This fish grows to a length of ten inches and is good for 
the table. As a bait for the black bass the young horned chub cannot 
be excelled, because of its endurance on a hook. 
Genus SEMOTILUS Rariyesave. 
68. Semotilus bullaris Rarryesqur. 
The Fall Fish. (gure 41.) 
The fall fish has a moderately deep, elongate and compressed body and a stout 
caudal peduncle. The greatest depth is one-fourth of the total length without cau- 
dal, and the least depth of the peduncle equals three-eighths length of head. The 
head is rather large, one-fourth of total without caudal, with pointed snout, which is 
two-sevenths of the head’s length. The mouth is oblique; the jaws nearly equal, the 
maxilla extending to below front of eye. The eye is placed high, and is about one- 
fourth as long as the head. The dorsal origin is over the sixteenth or seventeenth 
scale of the lateral line ; the base of the fin is one-half, and the longest ray two-thirds 
as long as the head. The ventral origin is under the fifteenth scale of the lateral 
line ; the fin does not reach to the vent, its length one-seventh of total without cau- 
dal. The anal origin is under the twenty-seventh scale of the lateral line; the base 
of the fin is one-third as long as the head, and the longest ray is as long as the ven- 
tral. The caudal is large and deeply forked. The lateral line curves downward 
abruptly over the pectoral, becoming median over the end of that fin. D. ii, 7; A. 
ii, 7; V.8; P. 18; scales, 7-46-5, teeth, 2, 5-4, 2, or 2, 4-4, 2, all more or less strongly 
hooked. In spirits the upper parts are grayish brown, the sides and cheeks silvery, 
the lower parts whitish, the finsall pale. In life the upper parts are steel blue, the 
sides and belly silvery ; breeding males in spring have the belly and lower fins rosy. 
The specimens described, No. 9202, United States National Museum, are from five 
and one-half to six and one-fourth inches long. 
The fall fish or dace is one of the largest of the minnow family in 
Pennsylvania, reaching a length of eighteen inches, and it is one of the 
most beautiful species, as well as game in its gualities. As a food fish, 
