200 FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



county ; and from two creeks in Union county, in extreme southern 

 Illinois. It is also reported from Wisconsin, from the Tippecanoe 

 River in Indiana, from the Arkansas River, and from the streams 

 of the lower part of the Missouri basin as far west as Kansas. 



SCHILBEODES MIURUS (Jordan) 



(BRINDLED STONECAT-) 



Jordan, 1S77, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., Vol. XI, 371 (Noturus). 

 J. &. G., 99 (Noturus); M. V., 42 (Noturus) ; J. & E., I, 148; N., 50 (Noturus mar- 

 ginatus); J., 68 (Noturus); F., 84 (Noturus); L., 10. 



Body broad anteriorly, though scarcely robust; slender and com- 

 pressed posteriorly; depth 4 . 6 to 5 . 6 in length; profile rather steep and 

 nearly straight. Length 3 i inches. Color grayish with black specks and 

 larger blotches; the back crossed by more or less definite saddle-like 

 blotches of black, one before dorsal, one behind it, one on adipose, and a 

 fainter one at base of caudal, the last blotch but one extending into adi- 

 pose fin to its edge; tip of dorsal, caudal, and anal blackish. Head wide 

 and extremely depressed anteriorly, much higher behind; interorbital 

 space flat, 2 . 1 to 2 . S in head ; length of head 3 . S to 3 . 9 in body, width 3 . 9 

 to 4.3; upper jaw a little longer than lower; maxillary barbels hardly 

 reaching gill-openings ; eye large, 4 . 3 to 5 in head. Dorsal fin higher than 

 long, its distance from snout 2 . 6 to 2 . 8 in length; the spine long, more 

 than half the height of the fin. Notch between adipose and caudal 

 usually deep and acute, the caudal tapering terminally. Anal short, the 

 rays 13 to 15. Pectoral spines long, 1.5 to 1.8 in head, much curved; 

 the basal f of anterior edge very finely serrate, the posterior margin with 

 6 to 8 strong hooks, whose length is more than half the diameter of the 

 spine; humeral process short. 



In our Illinois collections this species has been taken but 30 

 times, and, with a single exception, from localities in the eastern part 

 of the state on the tributaries of the Wabash and the Ohio. It has 

 occurred once in the extreme headwaters of the Kaskaskia, in close 

 proximity to upper branches of the Embarras, in which we have 

 found it several times. It contrasts, however, in distribution with 

 Noturus flavus, occupying those parts of the state which the former 

 does not penetrate. Indeed, these two species have been taken to- 

 gether in only one of our collections. It agrees closely with -flavus 

 in its ecological preferences, being, like that species, found only in 

 running streams (but most abundantly in creeks) and absent, so far 

 as our observations go, from standing waters. It likewise agrees 

 with flavus in its preference for a clean bottom and a swift current. 

 The relations of these two species to each other, and of both to 

 Schtlbeodes gyrinus, offer an interesting example of the methods by 



