Fish and Fishino; in America. 



121 



Another form of the above named 

 species — N. Juidsoniiis — is the g'ud<jeon 

 or smelt N. hudsoniiis ainariis, found in 

 the Susquehanna and Delaware riv- 

 ers and other waters east of the 

 AUeghanies south to Georg-ia. It is 

 abundant in Lake Erie, where it 

 grows to a large size (probably ten 

 inches), and is known there as " the 

 lake minnow." There is no specific 

 differentiation of service to anglers 

 between this fish and A^ hndsonins, 

 except in the appearance of the cau- 

 dal spot, which is either faint or ab- 

 sent, and it has a longer and less obtuse 

 head. It must not be confounded with 

 the "gudgeon" HybognatJms regius, 

 fished for by anglers in the Patapsco 

 and lower Susquehanna rivers. 



The spotted shiner — Hybobsis dissim- 

 ilis — is oftener met with by black bass 

 anglers west of the AUeghanies than by 

 those of the Eastern States, except 

 those who fish the streams of Western 

 Pennsylvania, where this fish grows to 

 about six and a half inches. It may be 

 known by its light bluish band along 

 the sides, which is interrupted so as to 

 form punctulations or spots, the most 

 distinct being at base of tail-fin. It has 

 a well inarked and forked tail, long 

 slender body and large eyes. Its gen- 

 eral color is olivaceous. 



I have often been at a loss to distin- 

 guish at sight those little pests known 

 as "red-fins" wherever an Eastern trout 

 stream is located, particularly if it has 

 been fished for a long period. In the 

 mountain brooks of New York and 

 Pennsylvania they seem to be ubiquit- 

 ous. I hav^e caught two forms and sizes 

 of them, and, as nearly all the smaller 

 cyprinoids in the early days of the trout 

 season assume radiant garbs with rose- 

 ate fins, I have not been astonished to 

 find that the minnows of those waters 

 were locally and generally bunched and 



christened "red-fins." The typical and 

 largest red-fin is Notropis cormitus, 

 which grows to a length of eight inches 

 (Jordan & Evermann) or a maximum of 

 ten inches (G. Brown Goode). I have 

 never taken them longer than seven 

 inches in the streams of Western New 

 York and Pennsylvania; but it is highly 

 probable they reach a maximum of ten 

 inches in the Great Lakes, where at the 

 mouths of rivers they can be taken in 

 numbers with the artificial fly. They 

 certainly rise to the feathers eagerly in 

 the trout streams of the East. The red- 

 fins are classified under the sub-genus 

 Luxilus, and consist of four species and 

 two varietal forms, none of which grow 

 so large or range so widely as N. cornu- 

 tus, the adult of which may be known 

 by its short, compressed body, which is 

 much swollen and convex in front of 

 the dorsal fin. The scales are broader 

 than long, lateral line much decurved 

 and the coloration dark, steel blue above 

 with dusky tints on the edges and bases 

 of the scales. There is a gilt line along 

 the back and one on each side, which 

 are only distinct when the fish is in the 

 water, an interesting fact in coloration, 

 paralleled, however, in other fish as 

 they appeared to the artist and myself 

 during our eleven years of catching and 

 painting fish at the moment they are 

 lifted from the water. I have seen the 

 green metallic patch of color at the base 

 of the dorsal fin of the porgy or scup 

 vanish as the fish was drawn into the 

 boat, and the streak of old gold just 

 above the eye of the cisco fade before 

 the fish could be taken from the hook. 

 These instances of instantaneous 

 changes in color tints have warned me 

 to hesitate in dogmatic criticism of col- 

 oration as it appears in fish pictures, 

 particularly those that are painted from 

 live specimens. The body of A^. cornu- 

 tus is about four and one third longer 



