136 
be done as quietly as possible, or the 
remaining fish will not bite for full an 
hour. It requires. all) the 
trout fishing. 
“T have known the biting spoiled by 
silence of 
the 
water at the very time that the fish 
were taking the bait readily. Perfect 
silence is the key that unlocks the mys- 
my dog carelessly coming near 
tery of sucker casting, and he who goes 
to the water without this, will generally 
return home disappointedand disgusted 
to boot. Generally speaking, the an- 
gler who has the best /i#ck is he who 
uses the best judgment, and _ vice 
versa. 
The buffalo fishes, so called from the 
hump on the anterior portion of the 
back, are grouped under the generic 
name of J/ctiobus (from two Greek 
words signifying “fish” and “butfalo”’). 
There appear to be eight species of 
them, but ichthyologists seem to be un- 
_ determined as to their number and ex- 
act classification, hence my notes will 
be brief, the more so because these fish 
are coarse in their habits, and, as hook 
and line quarry, are deservedly fit for 
the rough usage of the hand-liner. 
The big-mouthed buffalo fish—J/cfv- 
obus urus (urus—‘a wild bull’ )—is 
said to be confined to the Mississippi 
and Ohio valleys. It has a very large 
mouth and stout body, and is much 
darker in color than its congeners. It 
grows to a length of from two to three 
feet, and in certain sections is much es- 
teemed as food, doubtless because it is 
relatively a scarce fish and not easily 
procured by the market fishermen, who, 
like other tradesmen, often place a high 
price upon rare goods, and thus create 
a standard, but unjust value upon them. 
This fish has twenty-five to thirty rays 
The American Angler 
in its dorsal fin and eight or nine in the 
anal. Its common names are: Black 
buffalo, razor-backed buffalo, mongrel 
buffalo and big-mouthed buffalo. 
The sucker-mouthed, or small-mouth- 
ed, buffalo—/ctiobus bubalus (bubalus, 
Latin for buffalo)—do not, it is said, 
take a baited hook, and, as it is not a 
choice table fish, it is unworthy of ex- 
tended notice. 
The common buffalo fish or red- 
mouthed buffalo—-/ctiobus cvprinella (the 
specific name from the Latin—‘‘a small 
carp’’)—is a native of the Mississippi 
valley, where it is quite common, grow- 
ing to a weight of twenty to forty 
pounds. It is the largest of the sucker 
tribe and has twenty-eight to thirty 
rays in the dorsal fin and eight or nine 
in the anal. It is of a dull brownish 
olive color, with no trace of silver on its 
belly. 
The big carp or olive sucker—I/ctHiobus 
carpio (carpio from the Latin—‘‘a 
carp ’’)—grows to the length of eighteen 
inches, and is abundant in the Ohio 
river and tributaries, and ranges south- 
ward to Texas. Its general color is a 
dull silver, sometimes brassy, and the 
scales above the lateral line are often 
brownish at their bases. It has twenty- 
five to thirty rays in the dorsal, the first 
two being partly ossified, and eight rays 
in the anal. 
Of the deformed carp sucker—I/ct- 
obus difformis—Dr. Bean writes: ‘This 
singular species may be recognized by 
the great bluntness of its head and by 
the dorsal fin beginning in front of the 
middle of the body.” It is not a com- 
mon fish, and its size is small, the max- 
imum length being about one foot. It 
has twenty-four developed rays in the 
dorsal fin and eight or nine in the anal. 
To be continued. 
