CARP, DA CE AND MINNO W. 433 



chub and he, have, I think, both lost part of their credit by ill cooker}-, 

 they being reputed the worst or coarsest of fresh-water fish. But the barbel 

 affords an angler choice sport, being a lusty and a cunning fish — so lusty 

 and cunning as to endanger the breaking of the angler's line, by running 

 his head forcibly towards any covert or hole or bank, and then striking at 

 the line, to break it off with his tail, as is observed by Plutarch in his book 

 " De Industria Animalium," and also so cunning, to nibble and suck off 

 your worm close to the hook, and yet avoid letting the hook come into his 

 mouth." 



The Barbel, Barbus fluvtatilis, the Barbe of Germany, the Barbeauof 

 France, has no representative in America, though Gunther recognizes 

 over two hundred species in the tropical and temperate parts of the Old 

 World, some of which are of considerable economic importance. The 

 '• Mahaseer," Barbus tor, which inhabits the mountain streams of India, 

 attains sometimes the weight of one hundred pounds and the length of six 

 feet, and has scales as large as the palm of a man's hand. It is the largest 

 of all cyprinoids and its introduction into the United States might be 

 advantageous, since when under twenty pounds in weight this and other 

 Indian forms are said to be excellent food. 



The English Barbel is one of the coarsest of their "coarse fish." and is 

 not needed in America. It is, however, quite as highly esteemed in Eng- 

 land as our chubs and suckers are on this side of the Atlantic. Its habits 

 are indeed not unlike those of our suckers or catostomoid fishes, and the 

 methods of Barbel angling may yet be adopted in America for the fishes 

 of this group. From the angler's standpoint, also, the Barbel is perhaps 

 more like our "suckers" or Catostomidce than any other European 

 species. The Catostomidce are, however, not represented in the Old 

 "World, although they are so numerous in North America that no stream 

 or river is without them. 



The suckers, like the American representatives of the carp family, 

 have suffered unjustly at the hands of Prof. Jordan, who is the principal 

 authority as to their scientific affinities, and who, in the midst of his dis- 

 cussions of fin-formulae and pharyngeals, never loses an opportunity to 

 denounce them as unfit to eat. I can only account for his hatred of these 

 fishes by the fact that he has handled so many thousands of specimens 

 badly kept in alcohol, that he has acquired a loathing for them in any con- 

 dition. Conceding to him a thorough knowledge of cyprinology and 



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