The river shiner was taken only in the Arkansas River and in small numbers. In all instances N. blennius was found over sandy bottom in flowing water. Females were gravid at station A-1 on June 14. To my knowledge there are no published records of this shiner from the Arkansas River Basin in Kansas. In Oklahoma this species prefers the large, sandy streams such as the Arkansas River. Cross and Moore (1952:403) found it in the Poteau River only near the mouth.
Notropis boops Gilbert: Stations G-5, G-7, C-3, C-5, C-8, C-9, C-10, C-11, C-12, C-15, C-16, E-4, E-5, M-1, M-2.
Widespread occurrence of the bigeye shiner in this area seems surprising. Except for this area it is known in Kansas only from the Spring River drainage in the southeastern corner of the state (Cross, 1954b:474). N. boops chose habitats that seemed most nearly like Ozarkian terrain. The largest relative number of bigeye shiners was taken at C-11 in a clear stream described in the discussion of Notropis rubellus. At this station N. boops comprised 14.11 per cent, and N. boops and N. rubellus together comprised 24.78 per cent of all fish taken.
At station G-7 on Grouse Creek the percentage of N. boops was 7.15. Here, as at station C-11, water was clear. At both stations Myriophyllum heterophyllum was abundant and at G-7 Nelumbo lutea was also common. At G-7 N. boops seemed most abundant in the deeper water, but at C-11 most shiners were found in the shallower part of a large pool.
Two other collections in which N. boops were common were from Spring Creek. It is a small, clear Flint Hills brook running swiftly over clean gravel and rubble. It had, however, been intermittent or completely dry in its upper portion throughout the winter of 1955-'56 and until June 22, 1956. In collections at C-15 on June 28, N. boops formed 6.5 per cent of the fish taken. Farther upstream, at C-16 on July 9, in an area one mile from the nearest pool of water that existed prior to the rains of June 22, N. boops made up 7.2 per cent of the fish taken.
In streams heading in the hilly area of western Elk County, the relative abundance of Notropis boops decreased progressively downstream. On upper Elk River percentages were lower than on upper Grouse Creek and upper Big Caney River.
Hubbs and Lagler (1947:66) characterize the habitat of this species as clear creeks of limestone uplands. There are numerous records of the bigeye shiner from extreme eastern Oklahoma. It has been reported as far west as Beaver Creek in Osage County, Oklahoma. Beaver Creek originates in Cowley County, Kansas, near the origin of Cedar Creek and Crab Creek. Drought had left a few pools of water in Beaver Creek in Kansas at the time of my survey. The fish-fauna seemed sparse and N. boops was not among the species taken. Of interest in considering the somewhat isolated occurrence of the bigeye shiner in the Flint Hills area of Kansas is a record of it by Ortenburger and Hubbs (1926:126) from Panther Creek, Comanche County, Oklahoma, in the Wichita Mountain area of that state.
Notropis buchanani Meek: Stations G-1, E-4 (C-131).
At station G-1 the ghost shiner was taken in small numbers in the shallow end of a long pool (150 × 40 feet.) The three individuals taken at station E-4 were in an isolated pool (50 × 510 feet) averaging 1½ feet in depth. Water was turbid, and warm due to lack of shade.
The habitat preferences of this species and of the related species N. volucellus have been described as follows by Hubbs and Ortenburger (1929b:68): "It seems probable that volucellus when occurring in the range of buchanani occupies upland streams, whereas buchanani is chiefly a form of the large rivers and adjacent creek mouths." The results of this survey and impressions gained from other collections, some of which are unpublished, are in agreement with this view. A collection on the Verdigris River at Independence, Kansas, directly downstream from the mouth of the Elk River, showed N. buchanani to be common while N. volucellus was not taken. At station E-5 upstream from E-4, however, N. volucellus was taken but N. buchanani was not found.