10 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



The Neuse River begins in Wake County, North CaroUna, and is formed by 

 the junction of the Flat, Eno, and Little rivers, which rise in Orange and Person 

 counties. After pursuing a winding but generally southeasterly course of more 

 than 300 miles, it enters the extreme southwestern end of Pamlico Sound, the 

 lower forty miles being a very broad and fine estuary. The important tribu- 

 taries of the Neuse are Trent River, joining the main stream at New Bern and 

 being altogether the largest branch; Contentnea Creek, which joins the river 30 

 miles above Trent and is about 140 miles long; and Little River, which is about 

 100 miles long and enters the Neuse from the north near Goldsboro. The drain- 

 age area of the Neuse and its tributaries is 5,300 square miles, and the stream, its 

 bed, and its banks, resemble the Roanoke. The fall-line crosses the river near 

 Smithfield, 190 miles above its mouth, but the first considerable falls met with in 

 ascending the stream is at Millburnie, or Neuse Mills, 25 miles above Smithfield, 

 where the descent is about 12 feet; the Falls of the Neuse, having a descent of 

 18 feet, occur 13 miles north of Raleigh. 



The run of shad in the Neuse is larger than in any other North Carolina 

 stream, and the fisheries are correspondingly important. The resident fishes are 

 also numerous as to both species and individuals. The basin of the Neuse has 

 been more systematically explored by ichthyologists and more kinds of fishes are 

 recorded from it than any other river in the state. Among those who have col- 

 lected and written on the fishes of the Neuse are Professors Cope, Jordan, Ever- 

 mann, Meek, and Jenkins. About 60 species of permanent residents have been 

 listed, and half a dozen species now regarded as valid were based on examples 

 from this river; of the latter several have not as yet been met with elsewhere. 



The Cape Fear River is one of the longest of the streams wholly within the 

 limits ( f the state. It rises in the uplands to the northward of Greensboro only a 

 short distance from the headwaters of the Roanoke, and enters the ocean at the 

 cape which has the same name, after a course of over 200 miles. Its principal 

 components are the Deep and the Haw rivers; near Wilmington it is joined by the 

 North East Cape Fear and the South rivers. The upper waters of the Cape 

 Fear for the most part flow through a soil of red clay, and are during most of the 

 year discolored by a clayey sediment. The fall-line crosses the river about 27 

 miles above Fayetteville, and Smileys Falls is the result. From Wilmington to . 

 the sea, a distance of 30 miles, this stream is quite wide, in places over a mile; 

 and at its mouth it is 3 miles across. 



The area drained by the Cape Fear comprises upwards of 8,000 square 

 miles. The annual rainfall in the basin, amounting to about 50 inches, is nearly 

 equally divided between the four seasons, but notwithstanding this' the flow is 

 quite variable owing to peculiar conditions of the soil. Violent freshets some- 

 times occur, and in the vicinity of Fayetteville the rise has amounted to 58 

 feet. 



The lower Cape Fear basin is annually visited by the common migratory 

 fishes of the region, but the run of shad, alewives, and striped bass is smaller than 

 in some of the other streams of the state. The resident fishes are more closely 



