1870 ] RITCHIE — ON AQUARIA STUDIES. 5 



a look of recosrnitioa and thankfulness ; but dealh ! — inexorable 

 death ! ! — called him away. 



The Cat-fish (Amvfrus catus) is one of the hardiest fishes 

 we possess. His chief end is to eat, — which he does almost to 

 suffocation. He refuses nothing. As he roots with whiskered 

 mouth among the gravel at the bottom, he heeds neither the 

 attacks of the stickleback, cray-fish, nor sun-fish. When 

 annoyed he merely gives a shake of his head with the greatest 

 nonchalance and keeps his nose at work, picking up all the rejected 

 bits left by his patrician relations. He is of great use as a 

 scavenger, and two or three specimens are a great acquisition to 

 all aquaria. 



The Pond Sucker (probably a small species of Catasfomus)is a 

 shy fish, and extremely reserved. In form, its body, from the 

 dorsal fin to the tail, is rather tapering, and in swimming the 

 body appears bent ; — it is covered with beautiful silvery scales. 

 He sometimes, though erroneously, gets the name of " Shiner." 

 He has no teeth in the upper jaw, and is, therefore, unable to bite 

 at his food, which is drawn into the mouth by suction, hence 

 the name. 



The Jilack Minnow (JJmhra limi) is also of retiring habits, 

 and is easily startled. He asserts his dignity, however, at 

 feeding time, as he moves about with a graceful air, and is one 

 of the first to help himself when there is anything in the way of 

 meat to be had. 



We have kept the Golden Carp, or Gold-fish (C^prinus auratus) 

 in the tank to please the ladies, but we objected to his presence 

 on account of his being a stupid fish, and not indigenous (although 

 introduced into gentlemen's ponds in Massachusetts, where it 

 thrives well) ; besides, while along with the representative fishes 

 of our waters, our aquarium carried a falsehood on its face. This 

 will never do for science, we said, and were going to turn him 

 out, but all wo could find of him was the backbone and the eyeless 

 head floating on the top of the water. The other fish knew he 

 was a stranger, — perhaps they di4 not like the colour, — at any 

 rate every one was against him, from the perch to the striped 

 minnow. Whenever he attempted to come to the front to 

 feed, there was a general charge at the poor gold-fisli. Beino* 

 thus prevented from feeding, he got so weak as to allow himself to 

 be caught, and thus fell a victim to his cowardice and stupidity. 

 We say cowardice, for he was as large as any fish in the tank, 



