104 the; pishks of ohio. 



Family ; CoTTid^. 



Genus: Cottus. 



Cottus ictalops (Rafinesque). Mieler's Thumb; Spring Fish. 



Head about 3^; depth 4 to 6; eye 4. D. VI to VIII-16 or 17; A. about 

 12; ventral fin I, 4, the spine slender and closely attached to the first ray. 

 Body stout anteriorly, tapering regularly back to the slender caudal pedun- 

 cle. Skin smooth, except just behind the pectorals, where it is beset with 

 very small, sharp prickles, these sometimes obsolete; lateral line conspicu- 

 ous. Gill membranes not meeting across the very broad isthmus. Olivace- 

 ous, more or less barred and speckled with darker; fins mostly barred or 

 mottled. Qnite variable. Males in breeding season with a wide, black bar 

 margined with orange on dorsal fin, and under side of head pigmented with 

 dark or blue-black. Length 3 to 7 inches. 



Widely distributed, but never abundant ; sometimes locally 

 common. It occurs in clear, cold brooks and rapid streams. 

 Recorded as Cottus bairdii, by Girard, from specimens taken \>y 

 Spencer F. Baird, in Mahoning river at Poland. Given by Jordan 

 as C. richardsoni; Lorain County, common in Spring brook and 

 Chance creek, McCormick, 1892 ; Maumee river system, St. 

 Joseph river at Edgerton, Kirsch, 1893 ; Franklin County, four 

 specimens from Brackenridge's Run, Williamson and Osburn, 

 1897; Big Jelloway creek system, Knox County, Parker's Run 

 and Black's Run, common in the latter, Parker, Williamson and 

 Osburn, 1898 ; a small brook tributary to North Fork of Licking 

 river at Newark, R. C. Osburn, 1899. 



Family: Gadid^. 



Genus: Lota. 



Lota maculosa (Le Sueur). Burbot; Ling; Lake Lawyer. 



Head4>£; depth 5^; eye 7. D. 13-76; A. 68; scales very small, em- 

 bedded. Body elongate, not much compressed anteriorly. Head slightty 

 depressed; mouth large; a single barbel on the chin. 30 pyloric coeca. 

 Color, dark olive, thickly marbled and reticulated with blackish; below, 

 yellowish or dusky. Length about 2 feet. 



Common in Lake Krie, not recorded elsewhere in the state. 

 Recorded for Lake Erie by Le Sueur, 18 17, by Kirtland, 1838 ; 

 by Henshall, 1888, and by McCormick for Lorain County, Lake 

 Erie, 1892 ; Sandusky, R. C. Osburn, 1899 and 1900. 



