SCIENTIFIC SURVEY. 



71 



Sub-class Tblbostei. Percoid^. 



than the soft portion. Three anal spines. Insertion of ventrals situate posteriorly 

 to the base of pectorals. 



Posterior margin of caudal fin emarginated or subcrescentic. Scales small, de- 

 veloped and pectinated. 



Pomolis vulgaris, Cuv, 

 Bream, Roach, Sunfish, Pumpkin-seed, Pondfish, Kiver. 



If you should take a pumpkin seed and carve out a fish's head on 

 the blunt end, attach dorsal fins to one side or edge of it and a 

 fish's tail to the small end, you would have no mean miniature rep- 

 presentation of this species of fish. This resemblance has given 

 rise to one of the many names given \i, " pumpkin seed," which 

 is quite expressive of its form. 



The Pomotis or Bream is found in nearly all the fresh waters 

 of New England. It is found in nearly all the brooks and mar- 

 gins of lakes and ponds in Maine. The avidity with which it 

 seizes the hook, and the ease with which it is taken, render the fish- 

 ing for it a capital subject to initiate boys into the craft and mys- 

 tery of the angler's art, being often caught by them with the sim-" 

 pie and rude apparatus of a worm on a pin-hook, tied to an alder 

 twig for a rod. Many an urchin in the country, thus equipped, 

 becomes quite an expert at brook fishing, and exhibits as much zeal 

 and prowess, and as many trophies of his piscatory victims as the 

 most skillful angler, with reel and gaff", does over the subtle trout and 

 salmon. In the spring of the year the Bream repairs to the margin 

 of ponds, or to the eddies and still waters of brooks, where there 

 is a gravelly or sandy bottom, and cleaning off" any vegetables 

 that may be in the way, they scoop away the sand by swimming 

 around and stirring up the surface, and form a basin shaped cavity, 

 sometimes two feet across. Here they deposit their spawn and 

 carefully watch the premises until their eggs are hatched. 



Characteristics. Green mixed with olive, and dull reddish spots 

 over the body. Appendix of the opercle black, bordered with 

 scarlet. Length four to eight inches. — DeKay. 



Specific Description. The head of the Pomotis is rather small 

 and less than a quarter part as long as the body. Eyes are large 

 and circular, and near the " facial outline." Nostrils double, the 

 forward one tubular. Mouth is small, and the teeth sharp 

 and rather thickly set upon the jaws, vomer and pharyngeals. 



