CARP, DACE AND MINNOW 



437 



fish in flesli than any otlier of its family. It is ccmnicn in the Pittsburg 

 market. 



The different species of the genus Carpiodes abound in all the larger 

 bodies of water south and west of New York as far as the Rio Grande. 

 They reach a weight of four or five pounds. In Virginia and elsewhere 

 they go by the name of " Carp," as they have done from the earliest days 

 of the English occupation. Though fairly eatable, they are not equal to 

 the Carp, and are less prolific, less rapid in growth, and most of all, 

 not accustomed to domestication. The term American Carp should be 

 abandoned, and when characteristic local names are not in use, the 

 name "Carp-sucker" is recommended for adoption. 



Carpiodes velifer, the "Spear-fish," "Sail-fish," "Quill-back" or 

 "Skim-back" of the Ohio River, is a fish often seen in the markets. 



Carpiodes cyprimts, the "Carp" of the Susquehannah, is abundant 

 east of the Alleghanies from New York to Alabama. It is a common and 

 acceptable food-fish in Pennsylvania, attaining a weight of two or three 

 pounds. It is the " Carp " that is abundant in the Mattapony and 

 Pamunky Rivers in ^'irginia. 



The " Red Horses " belong to the genus Moxostotna and the related 

 Minytreina and Placopharynx, and usually have their lower fins bright, 

 red. They are useful and palatable food-fishes, although our writers have 

 persistently underrated their value. 



They are spring spawners, and when dams and other obstructions do 

 not forbid run up to the head-waters to breed. It is of the utmost im- 

 portance that fish-ways should be built over every dam on the continent, 

 for already the streams have been drained, not only of the game fishes, 

 local and anadromous, but of most of the humbler forms, which supply 

 food to the carnivorous water-aristocrats, and render trout and bass 

 culture possible. 



The most familiar member of this group is the " Brook Mullet," 

 Moxostoma macrolcpidotum, also called "Red Horse" in Pennsylvania, 

 and elsewhere, and pretty generally distributed east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, except in Eastern New England. The form which occurs in the 

 Ohio and Missouri has a larger head and larger mouth, and is generally 

 catalogued as a variety or sub-species Ditquesnii. This form is shown in 

 the cut, which represents a specimen from Ecorse, Michigan. 



The eastern form occurs in the Great Lakes, together with the allied 



