10 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



cerning it. Curiously enough, our collecting ex- 

 perience shows it to be most abundant in the Dela- 

 ware and Raritan Canal. With abundance of 

 natural watercourse all about it, it nevertheless is 

 best pleased with the artificial stream, the tame, 

 even banks of the canal, that have just grass enough 

 about them to shelter such small fishes. We once 

 left the realms of science and wondered if the fact 

 of their own alimentary " canal" being five times 

 the length of their whole body, and so a prominent 

 feature of their anatomy, made them prefer a canal 

 to live ill, on the principle of "a fellow feeling, &c. 

 &c." ; but enough of this and more of the zoology 

 proper. 



Popularly, i. e. with juvenile anglers, this pretty 

 fish is known as the " Golden Minnow," and it is a 

 very correct description of the fish's general ap- 

 pearance when living. The back and sides to the 

 lateral line are dull golden-yellow, while down the 

 back, on a line with the insertion of the dorsal fin, 

 is a very beautifully bright line of polished gold. 

 When taken from the water, these metallic tints 

 are too noticeable to be overlooked, even by boys 

 intent only on capturing a " big string " ; and they 

 show to great advantage in an aquarium. 



A lover of deeper waters than cyprinoids usually 

 prefer, they appear to be rare, judged only by the 

 few that wander into the shallows and seek the 

 company of the "red" and "silver fins." To fiad 

 them abundantly they must be sought in waters 

 of considerable depth, and resting on or very near 

 the bottom, close to the shore generally, in patches 

 of grass ; but the shore must be a steep bank, v/ith 

 the current moving at a fair rate, keeping the water 

 clear and cool. ' 



If, while fishing for other kinds, we chance to 

 drop the hook near them, they pounce upon it ; and 

 thus is explained the fact that these little fish are 

 often cauglit by anglers who are after eels, catfish, 

 and such larger kinds as frequent the bottoms of 

 the streams. Just what particular kinds of food 

 they prefer, we could never determine; but, judging 

 from the length of the intestine, it must be some" 

 thing slow in digesting; and this brings up the 

 question, was the bowel made thus so very long for 

 the food, or did the food cause, by its presence, the 

 lengthening of the bowel ? Cyprinoids generally 

 have an alimentary canal of ordinary length ; all our 

 New Jersey species have, except this golden min- 

 now , and we incline to the belief that a predilection 

 for some peculiar article of diet has Icnglhened, 

 folded, and refolded this canal, until its present 

 length suited the time required to take up the 

 nourishment of the favourite food. Ilather 

 this than extra intestine was given to this one 

 species, that it might live on something not suilable 

 to a short-bowelled species. The known food of the 

 Gizzard-shad {Dorosoma cepedianum) explains the 

 strong muscular stomach possessed by that fish; 



and the voracious appetite of the " Pirate " [ApJire- 

 dodirus sayanus) may have much to do indirectly 

 with the eight or nine caeca attached to the ali- 

 mentary canal of that fish ; but so far the golden 

 minnow's diet is not sufficiently known to explain 

 why so enormously long a digestive tract is a 

 necessity. 



Speaking of cyprinoids generally, Prof. Cope 

 remarks,* "Differences of habit are associated with 

 peculiarities of food and of the structure of the 

 digestive system. Few families of vertebrates 

 embrace as great a variety in these respects as the 

 present one. There are carnivorous, insectivorous, 

 and granivorous genera, which are distinguished as 

 among mammalia, the former by the abbreviation, 

 the last by the elongation of the alimentary canal ; 

 in the former the teeth are usually sharp-edged or 

 hooked, in the latter truncate, hammer or spoon- 

 shaped." Guided by this, we should be led to be- 

 lieve that the Hijbocjnathus, with its alimentary 

 canal five t times the length of the body, fed ex- 

 clusively upon vegetable matter, but we do know 

 that this is not the case ; nor is our common roach % 

 a vegetable-feeder, in th strict sense of that term, 

 as stated by many writers. We have generally 

 found the whole length of the intestine filled either 

 with moUusca entire, or, as the bowel nears the 

 vent, with the emptied shells; the juices of the 

 stomach and bowel having dissolved out the body 

 of tlie animal. The Golden Minnow is an exception 

 to the law (?) governing the regulation of diet with 

 regard to the length of the alimentary canal. 



Like the majority of our cyprinoids, this little 

 fish becomes brighter in all his tints, and more 

 active in all his movements, in the early spring; 

 and the silvery sides putting on a ruddy tint, that 

 in contrast witli the permanent but now brighter 

 golden, make our little pet second to none in gene- 

 ral attractiveness. 



Prof. Cope has given this species, as we have 

 seen, the specitic name of osmerinus, which refers 

 to the fact of the specimens first submitted were 

 found in company with the Prost-fish, or Smelt 

 {Osnieiiia morda.r), that ascend our rivers in immense 

 numbers in February. The Golden Minnow does 

 not, however, remain with themlong, or follow them 

 again to the sea. Indeed wc think the association 

 is occasional and accidental, rather than a habit of 

 the species. 



Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.A. 



Raineows. — Some years ago I remember having 

 seen three distinct rainbows. Of these two were 

 concentric, but the other one intersected them. 

 Will any of your numerous readers kindly explain 

 the cause of the phenomenon ? — Theopkilus Bates. 



* Cyprinid;ie of Pennsylvania ("Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc," 

 vol. xiu. p. asj). 



t Prol. Cope gives the length as four times, but it is fully 

 fioe tnUL-s in thu Hiiliuy;. uS'i,triiiu,-<. 



J atilOe aincricunu, LinnO. 



