NOTES ON FISHES OF THE DELAWARE RIVER. 843 



ing about the springs in the bed of the creek. They appeared to 

 have all hidden themselves away for the winter; and the few I sub- 

 sequentlj' succeeded in discovering were met with by accident. These 

 were upon the under side of a sunken, mud-embedded stick, at least 

 G inches deep in the mud, and so snugly fixed in the cracks and 

 crevices of the stick that I do not suppose a sun-fish could have 

 burrowed down and picked from such inaccessible places the speci- 

 mens I found. So far as my recollection serves me, I do not recall an 

 instance of sun-fish feeding upon shell-fish in summer. These fish, it 

 must be remembered, are strictly carnivorous from early spring until 

 winter; and I judge that the amount of food taken in winter is really 

 very small, and that they can "keep up their flesh," even if" active" 

 throughout the winter, without any, or but very little. That found 

 in the stomach may have been taken, not so much as food, but simply 

 by its presence to satisfy the natural craving of an empty stomach;. 

 i. e., supposing that in winter the active fish has its digestive organs in 

 full operation, save the presence of food. If the stomach secreted its 

 digesting juices as usual, it would be unhealthy, unless there was some- 

 thing in the stomach for it to act upon ; and thus vegetable substances 

 and small shells may be taken into the stomach, not for the nourish- 

 ment they contain, but as a means simply of keeping the body in a 

 healthy condition ; the more necessary, perhaps, as the ova and milt 

 are now maturing, and must be in a healthy state to produce normal 

 offspring. I throw out this suggestion as to the cause of sun-fish eat- 

 ing vegetable matter in winter, as a possible reason for their so doing. 

 It suggested itself to me during the course of my investigations, and will 

 be made the subject of a special study during the coming winter. 



The mud sun-fish was fairly out of shape with an enormous mup- 

 minnow which it had succeeded in swallowing. I could not make a care- 

 ful dissection, but saw enough to convince me that the stomach and 

 oesophagus are highly distensible. That portion of the digestive appa- 

 ratus, or rather the bowel, not in use was literally pushed aside and 

 almost out of sight. From specimens of this and other fishes kept in 

 an aquarium, I have learned the fact, possibly of interest, that, like 

 owls, this fish discharges by the mouth small pellets of bones and scales 

 of the fishes it devours, as well as rejects, ab ano, the indigestible por- 

 tions of its food. 



The cat-fish (Amiurus lynx) I examined had in each case a small 

 mass of greenish slime in the stomach, the character of which I could 

 not determine. I have since examined many specimens taken from 

 various localities, and find, at this time of the year, there is about the 

 same amount of food in the stomach, and that the bowel generally is 

 empty. From this I am led to believe that as to hibernation the cat- 

 fish vary in the habit a great deal ; and that the active individuals, 

 throughout winter, take comparatively little and possibly no nourish- 

 ment. 



