BRIEF NOTES ON FISHES. 417 



deposition. Just when this takes place I have not been 

 able to determine, nor whether it is preceded by the 

 building of a nest of pebbles, as we shall see is the case 

 with the equally common black-nosed dace, to which ref- 

 erence will be made on a subsequent page. 



Passing through the meadows, over to Crosswicks 

 Creek, I often linger by one of the large springs issuing 

 from the hill-side, for the purpose of watching the score 

 or more of " silver-fins " that are always there. Although 

 these fishes are of a dull, silvery hue only, they are, 

 nevertheless, exceedingly beautiful. They have an inde- 

 scribable grace, and are very conspicuous from the satin- 

 white coloring of their fins. Found only in clear, rap- 

 idly-running waters, they are in all respects fit occupants 

 of such localities, and do not give the impression of being 

 intruders, as do the occasional roach or cat-fish that hap- 

 pen to wander into the same spring-brooks. A silver-fin 

 is as much at home in the spring-brooks as the trout it- 

 self. 



The habits of this cyprinoid are essentially the same 

 as those of the red-fin, already described. They spawn 

 in May, depositing the ova in little basins of clean sand 

 in the bed of the stream, and there the eggs are left, 

 without a trace of subsequent attention from the parent 

 fishes. I believe the young fish are two years old before 

 they acquire the satin-white coloring of the fins which 

 makes them the most conspicuous of all our cyprinoids, 

 except the red-fins. 



In less attractive places, but where the water has a 

 decided current and is moderately clear, as in the canal 

 and the river, there is another scarcely less attractive 

 minnow, which the author of the manual quite ignores. 

 This is the rosy minnow, that I first found, nearly ten 

 years ago, in the canal near here. In general appear- 



