42 2 AMERICAN FISHES. 



It would seem that before England came to America this word had be- 

 come associated with an idea to such a degree that the fish, the little "gojone'' ' 

 of the English middle ages, had been almost lost sight of, and this will 

 account for the curious fact that the Gudgeon was almost the only common 

 fish of the motherland whose name was not given to several smaller forms 

 in different parts of Colonial America. 



It was only in Virginia, which was the most English of all the colonies, 

 and at the head of the Chesapeake, that the name was adopted. The 

 Gudgeons of the Tuckahoes are the little cyprinodents, known as " mum- 

 michogs " in New England and " killifish " in the Middle States, belong- 

 ing to Eundiilus, Hydrargyra and related genera. The Gudgeon of the 

 Patapsco and the lower Susquehannah is a cyprinoid fish, Hybognathiis 

 regius. 



Gudgeon fishing at Relay House and in that vicinity is a favorite sport 

 of the Baltimore people in April. The Gudgeons then ascend the Patapsco, 

 to spawn and are taken in vast numbers with the finest of tackles and 

 worms or maggots for bait.* 



THE AMERICAN RfVER CHTTB— CERATICHTHYS BIGUTTATUS. 



Zoologically speaking, the nearest kindred of the Gudgeon on this side 

 of the Atlantic are the members of the genus Ccratichthys, (or JVoconm), 

 of which we have at least twenty species, the best known of which is our 

 "Horny Head" or River Chub, Ceratichthys biguttatus, which is one of 

 the most widely diffused of fresh-water fishes, occurring from New York to 

 Utah and Alabama. It reaches a length of ten or twelve inches. It in- 

 habits larger streams than the Horned Dace, which delights in little 

 brooks. It takes the hook readily, and throughout the southwest is a great 



* Gudgeon-fishing in Maryland, American Angler, iii, 408. 



