CARP, DACE AND MINNOW. 



435 



inhabits all bodies of water, large and small, from New England to Colo- 

 rado. In the great lakes it reaches a length of two feet or more. In small 

 brooks it is mature at eight or ten inches. It varies much in size, color 

 and form in the different streams. It bites freely, and is one of the fishes 

 with which the unambitious brook angler is well contented. When taken 

 out of clear water, properly cared for and Avell washed, it is an excellent 

 pan-fish, like most of its kind. 



THE BROOK SUCKER— CATOSTOMUS COMMERSOXI. 



All the lakes and rivers of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific slope, 

 savs Jordan, are inhabited by species of this genus, or of the allied 

 genera Cliasmistcs and Pantostcus. In Utah Lake, said to be the " greatest 

 Sucker-pond in the world," are found Catostomus fecundus and ardens, 

 Cliasmistcs liorus and Pantosteus platyrhynchus , all in abundance. In Lake 

 Tahoe Catostomus tahoensis ; in the Sacramento C. occidentalis ; in the 

 Columbia C. macrochilus ; in Klamath Lake Cliasmistcs luxatus and Ch. 

 brevirostris, abound, while in the great lakes and all waters thence to 

 Alaska and Arctic Ocean C. longirostris is an important food-fish. 



The " Stone-roller," "Hog Sucker," "Stone Toter ' or "Hammer- 

 head Sucker," Catostomus nigricans, abounds in most waters from the great 

 lakes southward. The Stone-roller is extremely abundant in every run- 

 ning stream in the North and West, where its singular, almost comical form 

 is familiar to every school-boy. It delights in rapids and shoals, preferring 

 cold and clear water. Its powerful pectorals render it a swifter swimmer 

 than any other of its family. Its habit is to rest motionless on the bot- 

 tom, where its mottled colors render it difficult to distinguish from the 

 stones among which it lies. When disturbed it darts away very quickly, 

 after the manner of the etheostomoids. Thev often go in small schools. 



