CARP, DACE AND MIXXO]\'. 



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 \aries much in size, color 

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

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

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

 pan-fish, like most of its kind. 



',■;-'.' V/t&*.iv 



THE BROOK SUCKER— CATOSTOMUS COMMERSOXI. 



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

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

 genera Chasmistes and Pautostcus. In Utah Lake, said to be the " greatest 

 Sucker-pond in the world," are found Catostomus feamdus and ai'dens, 

 Chasmistes liorus and Pantosteus platyrhynchiis , all in abundance. In Lake 

 Tahoe Catostomus tahoensis ; in the Sacramento C. occidcntalis : in the 

 Columbia C. macrochilus : in Klamath Lake Chasmistes luxatus and CJi. 

 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. They often go in small schools. 



