392 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



vorable opportunities of studying this minnow at this 

 time of year. In December, while the weather was cool 

 rather than cold, with but little ice, I found that hun- 

 dreds of these fish were being thrown out with the mud 

 then being taken from the ditches in the meadows. 

 Learning this, I carefully examined the mud thrown 

 out, to determine as far as possible the condition of these 

 fishes. They were, when taken from the mud, motion- 

 less, stiff, and apparently frozen, though they were not 

 brittle, and an attempt to bend them resulted in prompt 

 resistance, or at least in voluntary muscular movements. 

 Specimens thus roughly handled were, in most instances, 

 injured by being thus bent, even when this curvation was 

 not in excess of what they can and readily do assume in 

 their normal condition. 



On placing specimens in clear water of the tempera- 

 ture of 60 Fahr., they did not fully revive until after 

 lying on their sides at the bottom of the vessel for from 

 twenty-five to forty minutes, and then they seemed to 

 be permanently injured by the sudden change ; but when 

 placed, with the mud still adhering to them, in water at 

 40 Fahr., and this was gradually warmed by the heat of 

 the room in which the vessel stood, the minnows would 

 become wholly themselves again in from ten to fifteen 

 minutes, and swim about in full vigor as the mud slowly 

 loosened from them and settled to the bottom of the 

 vessel. 



The mud in which these minnows were hibernating, 

 when taken from the bottom of the ditch, was about of 

 the consistence of cheese, though, of course, it was less 

 firm when the fish entered it, weeks before. As far as 

 I was able to determine, the fish had burrowed tail-fore- 

 most to a depth of from four to nine inches. In every 

 instance I am sure the tail was deeper in the mud than 



