838 REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



either as a food-fish or as a fish for fish to feed upon, a consideration 

 that should be taken into account in considering the value of a species, 

 eventhough very small. The reason that the black bass are so thoroughly 

 established in the Delaware River is largely due to the enormous amount 

 of food attainable in the countless schools of small cyprinoids. 



The common sunfish {Pomotis auritus) is too well known in all respects 

 to require any detailed account of it. It is uniformly abundant in all 

 waters, unless there be a rapid current, and therefore, even in the quieter 

 portions, it is not as numerous in the river and certain tide- water creeks 

 as the following species, Ichthelis appendix. The common sunfish does 

 not attain the size and weight here in New Jersey that it does in the 

 Great Lakes and some localities north of us. As usually found in our 

 ponds, creeks, and mill-ponds, it seldom measures over 6 inches in length. 

 Of that length, and even smaller, while considered a fair "pan-fish 2' by 

 many people, still it can scarcely be considered of any economic value, 

 although, when of the very largest size, they are brought to market, 

 especially in winter, when better kinds of fishes are scarce. They never 

 command a higher price than 10 cents per pound, and more frequently 

 are offered at 6 and 8 cents. My own opinion is that they are, big or 

 little, a very indifferent article of food. 



The river-sunfish {Ichthelis appendix), like the preceding, is too well 

 known to need any reference to its habits. It is well known in this 

 neighborhood among the more intelligent fishermen as the " black-eared 

 sunfish", so called from the marked size of the opercular flap; and by 

 others it is called the "ruddy-rudder", from the dull-red color of the tail. 

 The most noticeable feature in the habits of this species, as compared 

 with the preceding, is that it is more of a running-water species, being 

 found in the river in great abundance, and in those small streams that 

 have a decided current. 



As is well known to ichthyologists, this sunfish has been called by 

 Holbrook, in his work on the South Carolina fishes, the Ichthelis rnhri- 

 Cauda, a specific name that well describes a marked feature of coloration. 

 In examining a large series of these fishes from the river and various 

 creeks, I have been convinced that the fish called Pomotis appendix is 

 the same as that called rubricauda by others. In some localities the 

 P. auritus is a dull yellowish-brown, darker upon the back, but having no 

 trace of red upon the belly or the caudal fin. In the river, the red tints 

 are noticeable even in small specimens. Comparing these extreme ex- 

 amples, one would readily conclude that they were different species ; but 

 the gradation from the plain to the gaudy coloring is so regular that I 

 believe the two to be merely varieties of the one species. 



The blue sunfish {Ichthelis incisor) is quite new to our fauna. In Feb- 

 ruary of the past year (1874), I succeeded in procuring, in the Delaware 

 River, at a short distance below Trenton, in the tide-water, five tine 

 specimens of this southern and western species, known elsewhere, I be- 

 lieve, as the " copper-nosed bream." Learning that Mr. Richard Bliss, 

 jr., of Cambridge, Mass., was engaged upon a monograph of the Ich- 



