Twenty-five species of Illinois fishes were classified as rare 
and/or endangered by Lopinot and Smith (1973, Rare and Endangered 
Fish of Illinois. I11. Dept. Cons. Div. Fish. 53 p.). A study 
of three of these (ELassoma zonatum, Lepomis symmetricus, and 
ChoLogaster agassizi) and three other sporadically distributed 
and uncommon fishes (Fundulus notti, Lepomis punctatus, and 
Etheostoma kennicotti) was initiated to determine more accur- 
ately their status in Shawnee National Forest and to recommend 
measures to insure their continued success. This study was 
undertaken by four staff members of the Section of Faunistic 
Surveys of the Illinois Natural History Survey with partial 
funding provided by the U. S. Forest Service. The following is 
the report on the study by the Survey to the Forest Service. 
To maximize results, the study was divided into three parts. 
Part 1 was a study of certain fishes in the LaRue-Pine Hills 
Ecological Area, a natural and nearly undisturbed swamp 
environment having populations of several rare fishes. For 
one of them (CholLogaster agassizi) data were presented in a 
previous study conducted at Pine Hills (Norbert M. Welch 
Report on Spring Cavefish to U. S. Forest Service, 9 September 
1973) and the species is included in this report only to add 
some additional information relative to the other species 
discussed. 
Concurrent with the study of fishes in the LaRue-Pine Hills 
Swamp was an active search for new localities within the boun- 
daries of the Nationai Forest Service for the threatened 
Illinois species. This involved visits to areas similar to 
those from which the species were already known. New local- 
ities were found for several of them and are appended to the 
species accounts with Part 1 of this report. However, no 
attempt was made to survey all aquatic habitats in Shawnee 
National Forest. Only those that appeared likely to have 
populations of the LaRue-Pine Hills species and Big Creek in 
Hardin County were studied in detail. 
In the course of the search, another rare fish species was 
found that had not been anticipated. It is an undescribed and 
unnamed species of shiner, hereafter referred to as the lotus. 
Shiner. This fish, found in Wolf Lake in the early 1950's 
and rediscovered there in June of 1973, is to be described by 
Dr. R. M. Bailey of the University of Michigan when adequate 
study material becomes available. 
