AMONG THE FISHES. 12J 



covers. This is the way in which the fish breathes. 

 Some kinds of fish have teeth in the jaws, while oth- 

 ers are toothless. Their food is mostly worms, in- 

 sects, and other fish; though some, like the pond- 

 carp, feed on vegetable matter. The mode of eating 

 is to swallow the food whole; and this explains the 

 reason why fish may be caught with a hook. No fish 

 would be apt to swallow a hook after chewing it. 



Sucker. 



The fish impresses us as a bony animal, indeed very 

 bony. It has a backbone, and its skeleton is inside 

 of its soft parts instead of outside, as is the case with 

 insects. Nothing is easier than to examine the skel- 

 eton of a fish when it lies on the dinner-plate. 



PART 2. 



THE scientific and sporting books have a way of 

 speaking slightingly of certain fishes as "boys' fish." 

 Thus they put aside the common sucker as "one of 

 the numerous tribe of boys' fish which may be found 

 on every urchin's string." Here is a list of the boys' 

 fish : ' Minnows, chubs, roach, dace, shiners, and suck- 



