820 FISHES— CATOSTOMIDv*:. 



strongly papillose, with a broad free margin, on which are eight to ten aeries of papillae ; 

 lower lip greatly developed, strongly papillose, considerably incisad behind, but less so 

 than in the other species of this geous; pectoral fins very large ; scales moderate, not 

 crowded anteriorly, nearly eqaal over the body ; eye rather small, four and a half to five 

 in head; color olivaceous; sides with brassy lustre; belly white; back brown, with 

 several dark cross-blotches, irregularly arranged, obsolete in old individnala ; lower fins 

 dull red with dnsky shading; bead 4 to 4^ in length; depth 4^ to 5 ; D., 11; V., 9; 

 scales 7-50 5. Length, one to two feet. 



Habitat, New York to North Carolina, west to the Great Plains and Texas. 



Diagnosis. — This is the oaly Sucker haviog the eye sockets so elevated 

 that the space between them on the top of the head is transversely con- 

 cave. 



Habits. — This fish is extremely abundant in every running stream in 

 Ohio, where its singular, almost comical form is familiar to every school 

 boy. It delights in rapids and shoals, preft-rring cold and clear water. Its 

 powerful pectorals render it a swifter swimmer than any other of its 

 family. Its habit is to rest motionless on the bottom, where its mottled 

 colors render it difBcult to distinguish from the stones among which it 

 lie-". When disturbed, its darts away very quickly, after the manner 

 of the E heostomo.ds. They often go in small schools. I have never 

 found this fi.sh in really muddy water, and when placed in the aquarium 

 it is the firit fish to die as the water bee imes foul. Although called the 

 Mud Sucker in the book, it is most characteristically a fi h of the run- 

 ning streams. Thin species reiches a length about two feet, and is often 

 cauL^hl in its spawning season by means of a spear or snare. It is, like 

 the preceding, a "bo>'s fidti," and not wc^rth the eating. 



Genus 20. ERIMYZON. Jordan. 



MoxoHioma, Agkssiz, Jonrual -cenoeand Arts, lH'i4, '200 (Not of RafineeqneJ 

 Erinifizon, Josdan, Bull. Buff .Soo Nat Hist., l-Tti, 95. 



Teteiiiliie, CoPB, Synopsin of Fi>bes of N C , 'M eil , iddeada, 1877. (Not of Ratinesque.) 

 Cj/prmim, Calosloiuiin, and Lalieo, fp Early AnrHnRs. 



I.Vip., Cyprinus ohlongua, Miloliiil, Ci/primis siicetia, Lac. 



Eiyujology, eri, an inteusive particle ; miisii, lo siiok. 



Hi ui moderate, rather broad iiljove ; moaih moderate, somewhat inferior, the npper lip 

 wen evtjli ped, trrely protractile, thB lower iijiideratf, inf dried, \ shaped in outline, pli- 

 cal- , with Id-.O plKSBon each sid' ; lowerj.iw withoot cartilaginnus sheath, ra her stronger 

 than oaiial, and ooliquH iti posh ion when thu mou b is close I, the mouth thus fimilar to 

 tha ot Ichihyobui; eye m ider.tfe, rather high iip, placed about midway of the head; 

 suboi oit.al boneM conhirierably dev. luped, not very much narrower than tne fleshy por- 

 tion 'f the check b-. ow thein, thti posterior siiboridral concavo convex, about twice as 

 lorii; as deep, souittimts nivideil, the anterior somewhat deeper than long, sometimes 

 di\i ed into two, somelimea united with the preorbital boue, which is well developed 



