24 



Pimephales notatus Raf. 

 Blunt-nosed Minnow. 



A minnow closely allied to the last. The body is more 

 elongate, the head longer. Scales before the dorsal about 23. 

 Color olivaceous, little silvery, sides bluish, a dusky shade 

 toward the base of the dorsal and a black blotch in front thereof, 

 absent in the young. Head entirely black in spring males, 

 with tubercles on the snout. Dorsal I, 8, A. 7. Scales 6-45-4. 

 The lateral line present. Length, four inches. Quebec to 

 Delaware, Miss, and Kansas. Abbott found it at New Bruns- 

 wick, N. J. 



The next genus, Notropis, is a very large one of over 100 

 species ; it is found only in North America, east of the Rockies, 

 and now includes several genera before held to be distinct. 

 The species are difficult of identification on account of their 

 intergrading and great similarity. It is thought to be a group 

 of very recent origin in which stability of species has not yet 

 been fully attained. 1 They are all small, but owing to their 

 abundance are of great value as food for other fishes. Five 

 species come under our notice. 



Notropis bifrenata {Cope). 



Hemitremia bifrenata CopK. 



Body slender, tail contracted, upper lip on level of lower 

 part of pupil ; jaws subequal, eye large, lateral line very short. 

 Straw colored, with jet black band, bordered with orange on 

 the snout. D. 8, A. 7. Scales 5-36-3. Length 2 inches. 



Massachusetts to Maryland. Very common in the Delaware, 

 according to Abbott. 



Notropis hudsonius {Dewitt Clinton). 



Spawneater ; ' ' Smelt ' ' ; Shiner. 



Body elongate, moderately compressed, head short, snout 



blunt, eye very large, mouth small, subinferior; lateral line 



slightly decurved. 12-18 scales before the dorsal, fins small. 



Pale olive, young always with a round black spot on base of 



x See D. S. Jordan in " Report of Explorations made dnring the sum- 

 mer and autumn of 1888 in the Alleghany Region of Virginia, North 

 Carolina and Tennessee, and in Western Indiana, etc.," in Bulletin of the 

 U. S. Fish Commission, No. 8, 1888. 



