D IS PEES ION OF FRESH- WATER FISHES. 1 25 



bays, thus finding every facility for transfer from 

 river to river. There is a continuous inland pas- 

 sage in fresh or brackish waters, traversable by 

 such fishes, from Chesapeake Bay nearly to Cape 

 Fear; and similar conditions exist on the coasts of 

 Louisiana, Texas, and much of Florida. In Per- 

 dido Bay I have found fresh-water Minnows ^ and 

 Silversides 2 living together with marine Gobies^ 

 and salt-water Eels.^ Fresh-water Alligator Gars ^ 

 and marine Sharks compete for the garbage 

 thrown over from the Pensacola wharves. In Lake 

 Pontchartrain the fauna is a remarkable mixture 

 of fresh-water fishes from the Mississippi and ma- 

 rine fishes from the Gulf. Channel-cats, Sharks, 

 Sea-crabs, Sun-fishes, and Mullets can all be found 

 there together. It is therefore to be expected 

 that the lowland fauna of all the rivers of the Gulf 

 States would closely resemble that of the lower 

 Mississippi; and this, in fact, is the case. 



The streams of southern Florida and those of 

 southwestern Texas offer some peculiarities con- 

 nected with their warmer climate. The Florida 

 streams contain a few peculiar fishes ; ^ while 

 the rivers of Texas, with the same general fauna 

 as those farther north, have also a few distinctly 

 tropical types,^ immigrants from the lowlands of 

 Mexico. 



The fresh waters of Cuba are inhabited by fishes 

 unlike those found in the United States. Some 



1 Notropis cercostigma ; Notropis xccnocephalus. 



2 Labidesthes sicculus. 3 Gobiosoma molestum. 

 * My r op his piinctahis. 5 Lepisosteus iristxchus. 

 6 Jordanella, Riviihis, Heterandria, etc. 



"^ Heros, Tetragonopterus. 



