4:14: RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



minute mollusca adhering to stones and other stationary 

 objects in the beds of our streams. I am quite sure that 

 the charge of spawn-eating can not be laid to this fish 

 with more reason than to all other cyprinoids. Indeed, 

 without an exception, the ova of all other fishes are to 

 every species of fish a luscious morsel ; and I have seen 

 sufficient evidence to convince me that not only this spe- 

 cies, but all cyprinoids, are " spawn-eaters " to a certain ex- 

 tent ; but that the name is more deserved by any one spe- 

 cies over another, I strongly doubt. 



Another shiner of this group, which has been favored 

 with no distinctive name, is very abundant in the rapid 

 water of the river, but appears never to seek the quiet 

 inland streams. The principal external difference char- 

 acterizing this shiner, when compared with the preced- 

 ing, is the more tapering snout and the more slender and 

 graceful outline of the whole body. 



Some years ago, I found many of them in very swift 

 waters, at the mouth of the Assunpink Creek. They 

 seemed to be determined to go up the falls, and never 

 tired of making efforts to ascend, although, of course, they 

 made no progress. I captured a few and sent them to 

 an ichthyologist in Philadelphia, who pronounced them a 

 " new species," and gave them a Greek name ; but in the 

 manual they are said not to be "new," but old. To me 

 they are minnows of good size, great activity, and beau- 

 tiful color, and so they add a charm to the waters they in- 

 habit, and what more need one care to know ? 



So much for the larger shiners of this group ; but 

 what of the smaller ones ? These also must be considered 

 collectively, for I never found the one species without 

 as many individuals of the other, and never saw a solitary 

 individual of either. Then, too, wherever these little min- 



