336 NEW YORK STATE MUSEFUM 



Bucalia inconstans Joedan, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 65, 1877; Eigenmann, 

 Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 238, 1886; Bean, Fisiies Penna. 98, 1893; 

 Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 744, 1896; Evermann 

 & Kendall, Rept. U. S. Commr. Fish & Fisheries for 1894, 599, 

 1896, Franklin County, Vermont. 



The body is more elongated than in the other sticklebacks 

 described, and stouter, the caudal peduncle has no keel, and 

 the skin is entireh^ smooth. The ventral spines and pubic bones 

 are very small, the latter concealed under the skin. The 

 thoracic processes are covered by the skin, slender and widely 

 separated. The dorsal spines are short, nearly equal in length, 

 placed in a straight line, the anterior spines shortest. The 

 ventral spines are small and serrated. The depth equals one 

 fourth and the head two sevenths of the total length without 

 caudal. D. III-IV, I, 10; A. I, 10. Males in the breeding 

 season are jet black, tinged entirely with coppery red. The 

 females and young are greenish, variegated with darker. 



The brook stickleback occurs in the fresh waters from New 

 York westward to Dakota and is said to extend north to Green- 

 land. A variety from Cayuga lake has been described by Dr 

 Jordan. It has the ventral spines longer than the pubic bones. 



In Pennsylvania the brook stickleback inhabits the Ohio val-^ 

 ley. In New York it occurs only in the western part, being 

 specially abundant in the Lake Ontario region. The U. S. Fish 

 Commission has specimens from Salt brook, IJ miles above 

 Nine Mile point, June 11, 1893, Mill creek, Sacket Harbor, July 

 2, Cape Vincent, July 2, Black river, Huntingtonville, July 

 5, Three Mile creek, Oswego, July 27, Four Mile creek, Nine 

 Mile point, near Webster, August 9, and Long Pond, Char- 

 lotte, August 17. Evermann and Bean collected it also July 

 28, 1894, at Saranac river, Plattsburg. Dr Meek found it com- 

 mon in standing and sluggish water on the flats of Cayuga lake 

 basin. John W. Titcomb obtained it from a small brook in 

 Franklin county, Yt., the outlet of Franklin pond, a tributary 

 of Pike river, which flows into Missisquoi bay. 



It grows to a length of 2^ inches, and has no value as food, 

 but is an interesting aquarium fish. It is however exti^emely 



