April, 1910. Fishes of Chicago — Meek and Hildebrand. 257 



Lake Michigan, Millers, Indiana; Lagoon and Lake Michigan, Pine, 

 Indiana; Calumet River, Clark, Indiana. 



Catostomus nigricans Le Sueur. Hog Sucker; Stone-roller, 



Head 3.6 to 4.5 ; depth 4.6 to 5.1 ; D. 10 to 13 ; A. 7 ; scales 46 to 51. 



Body elongate, subfusiform. robust anteriorly; head very large 

 and broad; interorbital space transversely concave, 1.9 to 2.5 in 

 head; snout long and strongly decurved, 1.8 to 2.2 in head; mouth 

 inferior, the lips thick and strongly papillose; diameter of the eye 4.5 

 to 7.0 in head; scales on sides and dorsal region of nearly uniform 

 size; lateral line complete; caudal fin forked. 



Color dark olivaceous above, sides with brassy lustre; belly white; 

 young with 4 dark oblique bars on back and sides; pectorals and 

 ventrals with some darker markings. 



Length about 24 inches. 



This species inhabits clear water, from the Lake of the Woods to 

 Kansas and east to the Atlantic slope, north of the Carolinas, ascend- 

 ing streams in the spring to spawn. Of little value as a food fish. 



Fox River, McHenry, Illinois; Hickory Creek, Marley, Illinois; 

 Hickory Creek, New Lenox, Illinois. 



Family Cypriiiidte. 



The Minnows. 



Body elongate, more or less compressed; mouth large or small, 

 terminal or subinferior; margin of the upper jaw formed by the pre- 

 maxillaries; no teeth in the jaws; pharyngeal bones well developed, 

 falciform, and nearly parallel with the gill arches, each provided with 

 I to 3 rows of teeth, usually 4 to 7 in the main row; fewer in the other 

 rows if present; barbels, usually none, never more than 2 to 4; belly 

 rounded, rarely compressed to an edge, and never serrate; gill mem- 

 branes broadly joined to the isthmus; branchiostegals always 3 ; gills 

 4; pseudobranchiae usually present; ventral fins abdominal; air 

 bladder large, usually in two lobes; stomach without appendages. 



This family comprises many small fresh-water fishes. A few of 

 our western forms reach a large size. On this continent the southern- 

 most limit of this family is in the Balsas basin in southern Mexico. 



This large group of small fishes which so much resemble each other 

 in form, size, and coloration is one of the most difficult in which to 

 distinguish genera and species. Before one can make much progress 

 in the study ot these species, careful attention must be given to the 



