September. 1919] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



53 



(Basement, Supreme Court Building) two or three 

 years ago showed me plaster casts of what he re- 

 garded as Alberta Grayling in contradistinction to 

 casts of Rocky Mountain Whitcfish, Coregonus 

 Tvilliamsoni. I am not questioning, therefore, that 

 a fish of the genus Th^mallus occurs in the pro- 

 vince, on the other hand I feel sure (as already 

 stated under C. rvilUamsoni) that no small percent- 

 age of the catches of "Grayling" taken by fisher- 

 men are Rocky Mountain Whitefish. If T. tri- 

 color montanus possesses the characterisiic long 

 dorsal fin of the Grayling group — long in the sense 

 that the fin occupies approximately one-third of the 

 fish's back — it should be easily distinguished from 

 any species in the Whitefish group. 



Suckers, Mullets, etc. 

 We next come to the large group of fishes com- 

 monly known as "Suckers," including Mullets, Red 

 Horse, etc., quite uninteresting to sportsmen, and 

 unesteemed for the table, yet far from unworthy of 

 study from an economic standpoint. Like many 

 creatures of nature the "Sucker" group of fishes are 

 not wholly bad, nor good! On the one hand they 

 are evil, in as much as they are spawn-eaters of 

 fish more worthy than themselves, and on the other 

 their own myriad young provide food for the said 

 fish of greater value. I have made no study of the 

 local fishes of this group and therefore simply list 

 several species which, according to the Government 

 Check List, occur in the province: 

 Catostomidae. 



136. Pantosteus jordani Evermann. Mountain 



Sucker. 



137. Catostomus griseus Girard. Gray Sucker. 



1 38. Catostomus casostomus Foster. Northern 



Sucker. 

 140. Catosion^us commersonii Lacepede. Common 



White Sucker. 

 147. Moxostoma lesueuri Richardson. Northern 



Red Horse. 



Minnows, Dace, etc. 

 The next group is closely allied to the last, and 

 comprises a number of genera of small fishes, m- 

 cluding minnows, dace, chub, etc. By fishermen 

 they are esteemed as bait, and as food for larger and 

 more valuable fishes they have their uses. Some of 

 theni at any rate are spawn-eaters — so like the 

 Suckers they are both good and evil. I list a few 

 that are recorded in the Government Check List as 

 occurring in the prairie provinces: 



Cyprinidae. 

 168. Notropis jordani Rigenmann and Eigen- 



mann. Jordan's Shiner. 

 1 77. Notropis hudsonius selene Jordan. The 



Spawn Eater. 



181. Notropis scopifer Eigenmann and Eigenmann. 



Prairie Minnow. 

 186. Rhinichthys cataraclae dulcis Girard. Long- 

 nosed Dace. 

 195. Couesius dissimilis Girard. 

 197. Platygohlo gracilis Richardson. Saskatch- 

 ewan Dace. (Government Check List, Flat- 

 headed Chub). 

 A specimen that I forwarded in alcohol to Prof. 

 Bensley, of the University of Toronto, was re- 

 ferred by him to this species. The fish is common 

 in the Red Deer river in the vicinity of Red Deer. 

 It inhabits the mouths of creeks and eddies along 

 the shore, and can be taken with bait, worms, etc. 

 It appears to be an insect feeder as I have had 

 them rise to artificial fly. The little fish is round 

 bcdied; wid- across the head between the eyes, 

 and has an extremely long nose, with protruding 

 upper lip or snout. 



Luciidae. 

 210. Lucius lucius Linnaeus. Common Pike 

 (Western "Jack-Fish.") 

 The pike is probably as well known as any fish 

 that swims, for it is widely distributed not only in 

 North America but also in Europe, Asia, etc. It 

 occurs all over the Province of Alberta in lakes 

 and rivers, such as the Red Deer river, Saskatch- 

 ewan river. Peace river, and away north to the 

 delta of the Peace and Athabasca. While the pike 

 is not regarded very highly by fishermen in North 

 America, since, generally speaking, it is a poor 

 fighter, although individual fish will occasionally be 

 hooked that will put up quite a struggle, such fact 

 depends very largely, in my opinion, upon the con- 

 dition of the fish, and of the water. As a table fish 

 it is decidedly in the second rank; at the same 

 time it is of no small economic importance due to 

 its wide distribution. In many districts in western 

 Canada the pike is virtually the only fish that can 

 be obtained to supply cheap food and change of 

 diet for the inhabitants and to the Indians it has un- 

 doubtedly always been of very considerable value. 

 The name "Jack-fish, " so frequently given to this 

 fish in western Canada, is an interesting mis-nomer. 

 In the language of old country fishermen, a "jack" 

 is a small pike, say up to five or six pounds. The 

 name signifies size, just as the term "parr" and 

 "grilse" signify certain immature stages in the life 

 of the Atlantic salmon. I suppose old country set- 

 tlers, years ago, called the small pike "jack" until 

 in the end it was mistakenly adopted as a proper 

 name, and the Pike became a "Jack-fish" quite ir- 

 respective of its size. 



I am not at all sure that there are not two species 

 of pike in western Canada, but whether the doubt- 



