FISHES, LAHONTAN SYSTEM OF NEVADA AND NORTHEASTERN CALIFORNIA. 55 



wake of the smallest trout. It is best known as a river species — ^the bait fish of the angler, the 

 " minny " of the small boy, and the food of the kingfisher and tern. It delights in the slow ripples and 

 the quiet, shallow pools, where large numbers may be seen swimming lazily about over the submerged 

 bars, occasionally turning their silvery sides to the bright sun. In the lakes it congregates in large 

 schools, swimming about submerged logs, tops of fallen trees, wharves, and other sheltered places. 



The relationships of the species appear to be with R. balieattts and R. hydrophlox, in some characters 

 approaching the latter more closely. It may not be out of place to remark, however, that speculation 

 regarding this and other western species of the genus will remain more or less futile until something 

 more definite is known of the fauna of the upper Columbia and the Bonneville Basins. 



In describing this species Girard" gives the locality as unknown. The register in the National 

 Museum records Humboldt River, the entry having been made in February, 1857. The type is in all 

 respects like specimens of the species from the Humboldt and other rivers of the Lahontan system. 



This is one of the most brilliantly colored fishes of the West, not even excepting the trout. The 

 brightest hues appear for a short time only during the breeding season and are seen at their best in the 

 males. 



While examining Fallen Leaf Creek, a tributary of Lake Tahoe, on Jxme 10, large schools of this 

 species were observed making their way up the smaller tributaries, progressing chiefly at night, when 

 they might be seen or heard struggling over the small rapids and leaping the miniature falls. Both 

 sexes were highly colored, the males especially so, where small whitish epidermal nodules appear on the 

 siuface of the head, on the opercles, throat, and body, each scale along the sides having from one to 

 three on its posterior edge. Later observation indicated that these fishes were at that time rapidly 

 attaining the most advanced stages in their brilliant nuptial color. 



Specimens were collected from day to day and the changes in color noted. Many ripe males were 

 found at the time, but only an occasional ripe female. One of the latter was a deep olive green above, 

 lighter on the sides, and silvery beneath, brassy and silvery metallic reflections appearing on various 

 parts of the head and body. A distinct brassy stripe extended from the posterior border of the eye, 

 across the upper edge of the opercle, straight along the side of the body and upper third of the caudal 

 peduncle. Below the lateral line was a broad, indistinct area of violet pink over a brassy ground, the 

 latter becoming more intense ventrally. Belly silvery, a narrow, bright-red axillary dash present. 

 Iris tinted with pink. The females mostly were duller at first, many being seen with but a trace of the 

 metallic or red color. A ripe male was deep olive green above, lighter on the sides, and whitish be- 

 neath. When viewed from the side or from below, silvery and brassy reflections appeared, these being 

 suffused with a tint of violet pink, an occasional scale or group of scales remaining dark in any light. 

 Two rather distinct brassy stripes extended from snout to caudal, one beginning at upper anterior edge 

 of eye, crossing upper edge of gill opening,'and extending posteriorly to upper third of caudal peduncle, 

 the other, less definite in outline, passing from comer of mouth across preopercle, where it broadened 

 and became brilliantly iridescent, along head and body above base of pectoral and straight back to 

 caudal. Posteriorly the lower stripe became somewhat indistinct, but as the fish turned it flashed 

 brighter in the sunlight. Below the lower stripe the sides were strongly suffused with pink, the suffu- 

 sion growing more intense and darker in tone toward the axil of pectoral where it was light blood red, 

 a dash of brilliantly burnished brass extending forward on base of pectoral to a point below the edge 

 of preopercle. The fins were yellowish orange with metallic reflections, and likewise the body at 

 bases of ventrals and anal. 



Other males were much subdued in color, some possessing scarcely a bright tint. As time passed 

 the color of even the brightest rapidly increased in intensity, the brassy reflections becoming more 

 highly burnished, a broad, blood-red band appearing above the base of the pectorals and extending to 

 the origin of the anal , the posterior part being yellowish and broken into spots. The abdomen became dead 

 white. The most brilliantly colored males had a narrow red stripe below the eye, and the lateral dusky 

 stripe that is present in all and which persists in preserved specimens was deep black. When placed 

 in alcohol, the color soon became brighter on all parts of the body, and even appeared in specimens 

 where none was seen in life. In preserved specimens the bright tints soon pass away, leaving the body 

 with a pale, silvery sheen, very dark above, with a broad black lateral stripe, above which is a narrow 



o Padi5c Railroad Survey, x, 1858, p. 291. 



