STRIPED SUCKEK. 825 



fln ; top of head black ; lips pale ; each scale along tlie sides with a small, more or less 

 distinct blackish spot at its base, these spots forming interrupted lorgifndinal lines 

 along the rows of scales; tht-se lines arensnally very distinct, especially in the adnit, 

 bat yount; specimens often show them faintly ; sides and belly silvery, with a coppery 

 lustre ; sexnal peculiarities moderately marked ; very old males with tlie head covered 

 with »mall tubercles in spring ; no great changes with age, either iu form or coloration ; 

 size largrt ; maximum length about 18 inches. 



Habitat, Great Lakes to South Carolina and Texas. 



Dingnosis — This species may be best known by the coloration, each 

 scale along the sides having a conspicious dark spot, whicti forms dark 

 stripes along the series of scales. 



Habits — This species is abundant in the lake regions, and gra?sy ponds 

 throughout Ohio. It is fond of clear sluggish waters. It is often taken 

 in nets in Lake Erie, but is more common in the basin of the Ohio. It 

 is a handsome fish, and the young being very tenacious of life are at- 

 tractive aquarium fitches. It may be used as food, but as a food fish is 

 more saleable than edible. 



Gbnus 22 MYXOSTOMA. (Rafinesque) Jordan. 



Catostomus, sp. LeSueur, and of all writers till 1855. 



Moxostoma, Rapine? que, lohthyologia Ohiensis, 1820, 54. (Proposed as a subgenus for 

 those species of Caio8/omtt8 with eight ventral rajs and the caudal lobes unequal; 

 type C, anisurus, Rif.) 



Teretulus, Rafinksquk, lohthyologia Ohiensis, 1620, 57. (As a subgenus, to irolude 

 those species of Catostomus with nine ventral rays ; no type designated— mobt of the 

 species recoided belong to the present genns. C. aureolus, LeSneur, is the species 

 first mentioned, and to this species and its relative the name Teretulus was after- 

 wards restricted by Professor Cope.) 



Pttjchostomus, AGASSlz, American Journal of Science and Arts, 1855, p. 203 (No type 

 designated ; the species mentioned are P. aureolus, P. macrolepidotua, P. diiqaesnii, 

 and P. melanops. P. aureolus has been considered the type of the genus.) 



Teretulus, Cope, Journ. Acad. Nit. Sei Phila., 186S, 2.!6. 



Mojcostoma, Jordan, Manual of Vertebrates, lb76, i95. 



MyxoUoma, Jordan, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist., 1877, ."34;^. (Corrected orthography.) 

 Etymology, mxizo, to suck; stoma, mouth. 

 Type, Catostomus anisurus, Rafinetque. 



Body more or less elongate, sometimes nearly terete, usually more or less compressed ; 

 head variously long or short, its length ranging from three and a half to five and a half 

 in that of the body ; eye usually rather large, varying from three to six times in the 

 length of the side of the head, its position high up and median or rather posterior ; sub- 

 orbital bones very narrow ; fontanelle on top of head always well open, the parietal 

 bones not coalescing ; moutb varying much in size, always inferior, the mandible being 

 horizontal or nearly so ; lips usually well developed, the form of the lower lip varjing, 

 usually with a single median fissure ; the lips with transverse plicae, rarely somewhat 

 papillose; jaws without cartilaginous sheath; mnoiierous system considerably developed; 



