342 NE;W YORK STATE MUSEIUM 



The two spined stickleback thrives and breeds in captivity^ 

 but will not endure extreme heat in summer, and the adults will 

 eat their young. 



Genus apeltes De Kay 



Body moderately elongate, somewhat compressed, the back 

 elevated at the beginning of the soft dorsal fin, thence declining 

 in nearly a straight line to tip of snout; tail very slender, not 

 keeled; no bony dermal plates, the skin naked; innominate bones 

 not joined on the median line but separated, forming a bony 

 ridge on each side of the abdomen, below which the strong ven- 

 tral spines are depressible; chest mostly bony; bare area in 

 front of pectorals small, but distinct; gill rakers rather short, 

 gill membranes attached to the isthmus, without free edge; 

 free dorsal spines three, strong, the first the longest, directed 

 to one side, the next two directed toward the other side at dif- 

 ferent angles, attached spine of dorsal and anal well developed, 

 a bony ridge on each side of the spinous dorsal. 



172 Apeltes quadracus (Mitchill) 

 Four spined stickleback 



Oasterostens qnadraciis Mitchill, Trans. Lit. & Phil, Soc. N. Y. I, 430, pi. 



I, fig. 11, 1815, New York; De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fislies, 67, pi. 6. fig.. 



18, 1842, tbe generic name Apeltes proposed; Gunther, Cat. Fish. 



Brit. Mus. I, 7, 1859; Storee, Hist. Fish. Mass. 41, pi. VIII, fig. 4, 1S67. 

 Gasterosteus millepunctatiis Ayres, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist. IV, 294, pi. XII, 



fig. 3, 1844. Old Mans Harbor, Long Island. 

 Apeltes quadracus Goode & Bean, Bull. Essex Inst. XI, 5, 1879; JoRDArr 



& Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 396, 1888; Bean, 19th Kept. 



Oommrs. Fish. N. Y. 244, 1890; Fishes Penna. 99, 1893; Jordan & 



EvERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 752, 1896, pi. CXX, fig. 322, 1£00; 



Eugene Smith, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. Y. No. 9, p. 31, 1898; Mearns, Bull.. 



Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. X, 318, 1898; BEAN,.52d Ann. Rept. N. Y. State- 



Mus. 100, 1900. 



The body is fusiform in shape, the snout pointed and the 

 caudal peduncle slender. The sides are somewhat compressed. 

 The depth of the body equals the length of the head and is one 

 fourth of the total without caudal. D. III-IV, I, 11; A. i, 8. 

 The skin is scaleless. The first dorsal spine is. the highest, its^ 

 length about half that' of head. 



