302 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vOL. 45 



Abbott thought that when they " had gone into winter-quarters " in 

 water from " three to five feet deep, the hibernating slumber was not 

 as profound ; and when they were placed in clear water, at a tempera- 

 ture of 40° Fahr., they almost immediately swam about, slowly at 

 first, but with steadily increasing activity, and in from three to five 

 minutes they were in full possession of all their locomotive powers 

 and assumed the statue-like position common to them in summer." 



Soon after the returning warmth of spring has liberated the fishes 

 from their long confinement, or even before spring itself has arrived, 

 they manifest renewed vigor and sexual excitement. They had 

 previously segregated themselves, in large part at least, according to 

 sex — males in one lot, females in another. Abbott found in the 

 middle of one February that, " the weather being mild and spring-like 

 and frogs singing at mid-day," they were in muddy ditches ; a week 

 later there were few of the fishes in the ditches, " but a vast number 

 of females, heavy with masses of ova," had invaded " the swift, clear 

 waters of the hill-side brooks," and they continued to ascend in spite 

 of succeeding storms and cold — especially a heavy snow-storm. 

 " Of the specimens taken from the rivulets at this time, none were 

 males." " Certainly the females precede the male fish to the spawn- 

 ing-grounds." Abbott was convinced that " while these fish at the 

 commencement of winter seek shelter from the cold by burrowing 

 deeply in the mud, at the approach of spring they revive synchron- 

 ously with the maturing of the ova of the female and the milt of the 

 male, and, having thus recovered their wonted activity (during 

 February and March) no severity of the weather appears to deter 

 them from seeking out exceptionally cold waters for their spawning- 

 grounds. This was shown by the snow-storm referred to, after 

 which the female minnows were still found passing up the brooks, 

 forcing their way up miniature cascades with all the agility of 

 salmon, leaping from eddy to eddy, seeking out the most distant 

 points from their muddy summer haunts ; and here, where but little 

 water flowed, and with the long grass and twigs projecting from it 

 thickly coated with crystal ice and glistening frost," Abbott " found 

 the plainly colored mud-minnows lying half-hidden among the 

 pebbles and sandy ridges of the brook's bed." 



But if Umbras ascend running streams as far as they can go to 

 spawn, it is not because they cannot do otherwise. The fact that 

 they abound in numberless ponds shut off from all running water 

 is sufficient evidence that they can reproduce in still water. They 

 are said to have also spawned in confinement, as has been claimed by 

 Seeley in case of the European species. 



