HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



a spot as this, this sunfish loves to be, and in this 

 varies greatly from the commoner species (Pomotis 

 auritus), which is emphatically a lover of still 

 waters; the "big-ears" being a frequenter of com- 

 paratively quiet nooks in rapidly-running water. 

 Of course, we will meet with single specimens 

 occasionally, just where we least expect to find 

 them ; but we can safely point this out as a dis- 

 tinction between these two species, the two most 

 abundant and best known of the six species found 

 in New Jersey ; the smallest and least known of 

 which is figured in Science-Gossip for Feb., 1871. 



are very shy of man ; and when, in December, they 

 seek winter quarters in .soft mud, beneath deep 

 waters, in sheltered places, they are scarcely an inch 

 in length. 



Sunfish are strictly carnivorous, but not so 

 voracious as a pike, and, on the other hand, far 

 more particular in their diet. While worms and 

 insects are greedily caught up by them, thereby 

 making " sunnies " a game fish in a boy's estimation, 

 their principal food are the several species of small 

 cyprinoids (minnows) which swarm in all our 

 streams. 



Fig. 6. Big-eared Sunfish [Ichthelis appendix). 



As with the common auritus, this species, in April, 

 becomes brighter in all his colours, and to a marked 

 degree, the tail and abdomen deepen their ruddy 

 hues. They are, we judge, as they fight so fiercely 

 among themselves at this time of year, and only 

 secure a wife after a struggle, a good example of 

 that sexual selection so clearly shown to be ever 

 going on in animal life. 



We have never found the " big-ears," in May or 

 June, making a nest near shore, by scooping a shal- 

 low basin in the sand, as the common auritus does ; 

 and indeed, have never found the female when in 

 the act of depositing her ova. Very early in the 

 summer, however, we find myriads of little sunfish 

 in every available nook and corner; and in the gently- 

 running waters, these wee " big-ears " are as much in 

 excess of other sunfish, as they, in quiet waters, hold 

 their own. Granting that the ova of each species 

 take the same time to mature, these little fishes were 

 certainly " ova together " as they are now " children 

 together." 



The first summer of their existence they grow 

 but little, but seem to learn a great deal, as they 



Like the Pike, the Big-eared Sunfish does not 

 go roaming about in search of food, but, loafing 

 in some convenient spot, keeps on the look-out, 

 aud when a luckless minnow comes too near, it opens 

 its capacious jaws, and with a rush, swallows the 

 little cyprinoid, or rather, by a manoeuvre, which 

 does not appear to be an automatic movement, makes 

 the little minnow swim down the big percoid's 

 throat. At least, head foremost in it goes, as 

 though it couldn't help it. 



From aquaria specimens, and those in private 

 fishponds, which we have studied year after year, 

 we judge that they reach their adult (?) size in four 

 years. That is, that until then, they do not breed ; 

 and we question very much if they continue to 

 increase in size after they become breeding fish. So 

 far as we have watched them, they certainly remain 

 about the one thing, after the fourth year, and we 

 have specimens in mind, as we write, that we know 

 to be seven years old ; having taken them when 

 newly hatched, and knowing of their breeding by 

 the presence of their young, noted carefully their 

 size from that time until the present. While some 



