FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



distinguished primarily by an obscure dusky band 

 that runs through the eye and around the snout, 

 also by its broad head and flat snout. Its length 

 is about six inches. 



The brindled minnow has a slender body, a 

 blunt muzzle, a large eye, and a median or lateral 

 line extending only a short distance from the gill- 

 covers. It is straw-colored, with a shining black 

 band from the snout through the eye to the tail fin. 

 Its average length is about ten inches in the adult. 



The cut-lip, or negro chub, can be at once iden- 

 tified by its broad flat head, which is flattish above, 

 and tumid cheeks, and by its three-lobed lower 

 jaw. 



Minnow life in Eastern Canada and New Eng- 

 land is not so abundant as it is in the Southern 

 States, in the Mississippi Valley, and on the Pacific 

 coast, the above described minnows being the 

 principal cyprinoids that are in general use by the 

 angler of New England ; but other small fishes, 

 such as the young of the common sucker, some of 

 the mud minnows, young catfishes, and the darters, 

 are also esteemed as bait for bass, pickerel, pike, 

 and other large fishes. 



The common sucker {Catostomus commersonii, 

 from the Greek, " inferior " and " mouth," and 

 from the name of an early French naturalist), also 

 280 



