Edward C. Raney

Observations on the Life History of the Spotted Darter, Poecilichthys maculatus (Kirtland)

of digestion, should not affect the ratio of the rates for the different organisms. This should be tested experimentally. It is acknowledged that the data submitted above only indicate that a difference in the rate of digestion of different kinds of organisms does occur; and they are not sufficient for the actual determination of evaluation factors. The latter should be determined with larger samples according to the method outlined above.

Additional Studies on the Movement of Tagged Bullfrogs, Rana catesbeiana Shaw

During the summer of 1939 the movements of 237 tagged bullfrogs, Rana catesbeiana Shaw, were studied at the Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve, at Rensselaerville, Albany County, New York. These frogs were marked by locking numbered monel metal tags around the dentary bone. The results were reported by Raney (1940). Other studies on the growth of these bullfrogs in nature have been reported by Raney and Ingram (1940 and 1941). Additional returns on 22 individuals recaptured by Ingram in the summer of 1940, and 12 records obtained by Dr. Jean Piatt during 1941 serve as a basis for these notes.

The Spring Migration of the Common White Sucker, Catostomus c. commersonnii (Lacepede), in Skaneateles Lake Inlet, New York

OBSERVATIONS over several years have shown that most streams which enter the Finger Lakes in central New York are visited annually by a run of large common suckers, Catostomus c. commersonnii (Lacepede). At this time suckers are taken by angling and by spearing. This is especially true of the lake suckers which reach a large size (see Table III). They are an important local food fish and might be utilized to a greater extent during the next few years. Much of the information to be presented below may be useful in connection with the pond culture of the muskalonge, Esox masquinongy. Here the problem involves supplying an abundance of living forage fishes of varying sizes for the young muskalonge after they have eaten the available stock of Daphnia and similar small animals. Suckers may be stripped, the eggs incubated in jars, and the young raised in small ponds until they are of the desired length. If eggs are obtained several times during the sucker run, a plentiful supply of all sizes of suckers would result. A number of incidental notes on these migrations in New York State waters have appeared in the literature. Surface (1899: 241) observed the run to last from the last of March to the middle of May in Cayuga .Lake Inlet. In Beebe Lake, at Ithaca, Stewart (1927: 150) found that the spawning season lasted approximately one month, and ended on May 25. Greeley and Bishop (1932: 81) report a spawning run as early as April 13 to 15 in Fish Creek at Popes Mills. Greeley (1930: 77) also found them breeding as late as June 17 in Stacy Brook, a tributary of Lake Champlain. The most complete studies on migrating suckers are those by Dence (1937 and 1940) on the dwarf white sucker, Catostomus commersonnii utawana Mather. Mather (1886), Kendall and Dence (1929: 287), Greeley and Greene (1931: 84), Greeley and Bishop (1932: 81), and Greeley (1934: 101) have noted that the dwarf subspecies, utawana, spawns later than the common white sucker where they occur at the same locality in the Adirondack Mountains. Migrations of utawana usually occur in June. In Michigan some interesting data on sucker migration were obtained by Shetter (1938: 335). A two-way fish trap was operated continuously over one calendar year (1937) in Canada Creek, Presque Isle County. He found that the greatest number of suckers taken in April and May were moving downstream, possibly out of small lakes to spawning grounds. He also found a considerable number of suckers moving both upstream and downstream during September and October. During the spring of 1939 an attempt was made to obtain a picture of the sucker migration in Skaneateles Lake Inlet. This was possible since a weir had been installed in connection with research on the rainbow trout, Salmo gairdnerii, by Dr. H. John Rayner, of the Laboratory of Limnology and Fisheries, Cornell University. The sucker studies covered a general description of the main characteristics of the run, and included the length

Etheostoma moorei, a New Darter of the Subgenus Nothonotus from the White River System, Arkansas

, AND B. W. EVERMANN. 1896. The fishes of North and Middle America. Pt. 1. Bull. U. S. Natl. Mus. 47:1-1240. LINCK, H. F. 1790. Versuch einer Eintheilung der Fische nach den Zahnen. Mag. Neu. Phys. Naturges. 6(1):28-38. LINNAEUS, C. 1758. Systema Naturae. Tom. 1, Ed. 10. ii-824 pp. MILLER, R. R. 1957. Origin and dispersal of the alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, and gizzard shad, Dorosoma cepedianum, in the Great Lakes. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 86(1956): 97-111. REGAN, C. T. 1916. The British fishes of the subfamily Clupeinae and related species in other seas. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. Ser. 8, 18: 1-19. 1917. A revision of the clupeoid fishes of the genera Pomolobus, Brevoortia and Dorosoma and their allies. Ibid. 19:297-316. SVETOVIDOV, A. N. 1932. Sur le rapport entre le caractere de la nourriture et la nombre des appendices pyloriques chez les harengs. Comp. Rend. Acad. Sci. URSS A (8):202-204. 1952a. O zavisimosti mezhdu colichestvom pulorichescikh pridatcov i kharacteram pitanya ryb. (On the correlation between the number of pyloric caeca and the character of food in fishes.) Ocherki po obschim voprosam ikhtyologyi. Akad. Nauk SSSR:282-289. 1952b. Seldevye (Clupeidae). Fauna SSSR. Ryby 2(1), 331 pp.

Food and Growth of Two Species of Watersnakes from Western New York

l ITTLE information on food habits based on the examination of stomach contents is available for the queen snake, Natrix septemvittata (Say). The few scattered data indicate crayfish are the most important food, a fact fully substantiated by this study. The common water snake, Natrix sipedon sipedon (Linnaeus), eats mostly fishes and amphibians, and smaller amounts of insects and mammals. This study is concerned with the food habits of the two species taken in the same habitat.

Systematics of the Percid Fish, Etheostoma macu- latum Kirtland, and Related Species of the Su6genus Nothonotus

The systematic characters of E. maculatum were studied in approximately 750 specimens. It was compared with its relative, E. microleplidum from the Cumberland River. E. maculatum is found in riffles in rivers and has been taken commonly only in tributaries of the Ohio River System in western Pennsylvania. It ranges westward to the Wabash River System in Indiana and southward to the upper reaches of the Cumberland and Tennessee River systems. Three allopatric forms are recognized as subspecies, but might properly be considered as species. Gene flow between these subspecies is unlikely since the late Pleistocene. We diagnose and compare the subspecies maculatum (Ohio River Sys- tem), sanguifluum (Cumberland River System), and vulneratum (Upper Tennessee River System). The latter two names of Cope are resurrected after an examination of the type specimens. The three subspecies differ in scales, fin rays, and vertebrae. The shape and relations of the snout, frenum, and jaws also differ. Color and pattern are also useful. Sexual dimorphism is marked and the males reach a larger size. The male of the northern subspecies, maculatum, is known to guard a mass of eggs laid under a stone. Observations are lacking for the other two subspecies. A study of additional large series, if ever available, from the Upper Ten- nessee River System, may reveal additional forms.

Age, Growth, and Habits of the Hog Sucker, Hypentelium nigricans (LeSueur), in New York

The hog sucker, Hypentelium nigricans (LeSueur), is a well known fish of the riffles and adjacent areas of warm, clear, shallow streams with rubble bottom. Its extensive range includes Minnesota and Lake of the Woods, the entire upper Mississippi River system, eastward to southern Ontario and New York; south to Georgia in the East, the Gulf slope of Mississippi, southwestern Arkansas, and eastern Oklahoma (Hubbs and Lagler, 1941: 42). Although it is sometimes caught by fishermen in the spring on hook and line, it is not oftern eaten because of its small average size and the presence of many small bones. It is also called hammerhead, hog molly, hog mullet, crawl-abottom, stone lugger, and stone toter. The bulk of its diet consists of insect larvae, crustaceans, diatoms and other minute forms of vegetation. When feeding it scrapes off the upper surface of rubble, turns over stones on the bottom, and sucks up the ooze, which includes a host of small organisms. Reighard (1920: 21) and Greeley (1935: 92) both report an interesting relationship between the feeding hog sucker and other fishes such as shiners, Notropis, and nothern smallmouth bass, Micropterus d. dolomieu. These fishes take a position downstream and feed on the aquatic insects and other forms dislodged as the hog sucker turns over rocks. As every boy who frequents small streams knows, hog suckers may easily be caught on worms or snared with a loop or hook as they lie quietly in shallow water. It is most commonly found in warm streams where it is generally associated with the northern smallmouth bass, in whose stomach it has been found. Large hog suckers are sometimes used as bait for muskellunge, northern pike and other large game fishes. It is occasionally found in lakes, usually near the mouths of streams, and apparently thrives in this habitat for the few that we have aged have grown much faster than stream specimens.

A New Lamprey, IchthyomyKon hubbsi, from the Upper Tennessee River System

MATERIAL.-Holotype, Cornell University Fish Collection No. 20324, an adult male, 107.5 mm. in total length, taken in Nottely River, a tributary of Hiwassee River, Tennessee River System, 8 miles south-southeast of Blairsville on Georgia Highway Routes 19 and 129, Union County, Georgia, on April 10, 1947, by Robert D. Ross, Royal D. Suttkus and Raney. Five other specimens, C.U. No. 10985, 102.7 to 122.3 mm. total length, including 3 males and 2 females, were taken in the same collection and are designated as paratypes. From the Little Tennessee River system the following are available and are designated as paratypes: C.U. No. 19532; a male 129.8 mm. and a female 125.1 mm. in total length, captured in a small tributary of the headwaters of Little Tennessee River at the north city limits of Dillard, on U. S. Highway 23, Rabun Co., Georgia, on March 25, 1951 by Richard H. Backus, Ronald W. Crawford, James N. Layne, Roland L. Wigley, C. Richard Robins, and Raney. University of Michigan Museum Zoology Fish Collection Nos. 136313 and 136314, 2 males and 12 females, 117.9 to 150.0 mm. long, taken in Oconaluftee River near Smokemont near Great Smoky Mts. National Park and Cherokee Indian Reservation line, Swain Co., North Carolina, on April 10 and 11, 1941 by Cowan Wikle; and U.M.M.Z. No. 141202, one male, 130.9 mm. long, from Raven Fork of Oconaluftee River above Ravensford, Swain Co., N. C., captured about June 1, 1943, by Cowan Wikle. Studied but not designated as paratypes was one ammocoete from the latter locality, and U.M.M.Z. No. 129556, 14 ammocoetes, 32 to 118 mm. long, from Oconaluftee River, about 1 mile south of Ravenswood, Great Smoky Mts. Nat. Park, Swain Co., N. C., collected by Carl L. Hubbs and family, on October 10, 1937. Also studied was U.M.M.Z. No. 136212, the remnants of one male and two females that were dead upon collection by Cowan Wikle, in Oconaluftee River, Cherokee Indian Reservation, N. C., on April 26, 1941. Also available in the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology are a large number of Ichthyomyzon ammocoetes, according to curator Reeve M. Bailey whose assistance in loaning specimens is much appreciated. These have not been used because of doubt as to their specific identification. DIAGNOSIS.-A small, nonparasitic lamprey with a deep body, and low first dorsal and anal fins. Trunk myomeres 55-59 (mean 57.2 in adults). Snout short and buccal disk small. Dentition weak. Supraoral cusps normally 2; when a third cusp is present it is median in position and usually minute. Infraoral cusps 7 to 11 (mean 9.5). Circumoral teeth 20 to 27 (mean 22.3). Teeth in the anterior row 3-4 (mean 3.7). Teeth in the lateral rows 5 to 7 (mean 5.9). Bicuspid circumorals 5-10 (mean 7.7). Teeth only slightly, if at all, cornified. Transverse lingual lamina moderately bilobed, and lacks or has minute denticulations. Dorsal lateral line organs dark. Presumed to have been derived from the parasitic I. bdellium. DEscRIPTION.-Counts and measurements were made using the methods described in detail by Hubbs and Trautman (1937: 27-40) in their excellent revision of the genus Ichthyomyzon, and are given in the same order so as to facilitate comparison with the known species of Ichthyomyzon. Measurements were made with dial calipers reading to one-tenth of a mm. See Vladykov (1949) for illustrations of structures mentioned herein. Measurements of the types are given in Table I and myomere and tooth counts are given in Table II. The myomere count of 11 ammocoetes from Oconaluftee

Summer Food of Chrysemys picta marginata, in Chautauqua Lake, New York

N INETY specimens of the central painted turtle, Chrysemys picta marginata (Agassiz), were captured during the period from August 17 to 29, 1941, in three trap nets of the New York Conservation Department, located just north of Stow and at Prendergast Point, Chautauqua Lake, Chautauqua County, New York. The nets were set in water from 5 to 8 feet deep over weed beds consisting largely of waterweed, Anacharis canadensis, yellow water lily, Nuphar variegatum, and several species of Potamogeton. These nets were lifted and reset daily at 8 to 10 A.M. The turtles were killed immediately and after the plastrons were removed they were preserved in 10 per cent formalin. All 90 specimens were adults (62 males and 28 females) and ranged in length of carapace from 106 to 175 mm., with a mean of 135.6 (standard deviation 14.7). The stomachs of 76 (55 males and 21 females) contained food, while 14 were empty. Each stomach was considered as a unit in the estimates of the percentage by volume occupied by each food item. An exploratory attempt at estimating the relative volume of the different organisms in the intestines indicated that large errors would result because of more rapid digestion of certain animal tissues, such as large soft-bodied insects. Furthermore, since no organisms were found in the intestines which were not found in at least one of the stomachs, only the stomach contents were considered. These data on stomach contents are analyzed in Table I. They supplement the studies of Surface (1908), Pearse, Lepkovsky and Hintze (1925), and Lagler (1941), made in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan on Chrysemys picta marginata, C. picta picta, C. picta belli, or intergrades of these subspecies. When percentage by volume is considered, the food items were about equally divided between plants and animals. However, 15 more stomachs contained animal material than plants, and only one of the 76 stomachs held no animal food. Of the animals eaten, snails were most abundant (16 per cent). The most common species were Amnicola limosa, Physa heterostropha, Valvata tricarinata, and Heliosoma campanulatus. An occasional snail was undoubtedly engulfed incidentally with plants, but in many stomachs the snails occupied a much greater volume than the plants. Even when plants were present, they were usually separated from the snails in a manner which suggested that they were probably eaten at different times. About 14 per cent of the volume was fishes. Of the four individual game and pan fishes that were eaten, three were yellow perch, Perca flavescens, and one was a young largemouth bass, Huro salmoides. These were swallowed whole. Two of the three forage fish taken were the spottail shiner, Notropis h. hudsonius, while the third was also a cyprinid. Considerable fish carrion was engulfed and was easily recognized in the stomach by the semi-solid irregular mixture of flesh and bone. Insects occupied 11.6 per cent by volume. The only three

Systematics of the Banded Darter, Etheostoma zonale (Pisces: Percidae)

Etheostoma zonale is redescribed and variation patterns are analyzed. Geographical variation indicates the existence of two subspecies, Etheostoma zonale zonale (Cope) and Etheostoma zonale lynceum (Jordan). The former is found in the Mississippi River drainages above the Fall Line, western drainages of Lake Michigan and headwaters of the Savannah River on the Atlantic slope. The latter occurs in eastern tributaries of the lower Mississippi River, below the Fall Line, and in eastern Gulf slope drainages in Mississippi and Louisiana. The geographical origin of the species and its dispersion routes are postulated.