AMONG THE FISHES. 



I2 9 



Sunflsh. 



the delicious crappie of the Mississippi River. You 

 will notice that all these fishes have on the back, in 

 front of the usual dorsal fin, a first dorsal fin composed 

 of very sharp spines. You will be more impressed 

 with the sharpness of 

 these fins when you 

 come to take a bold, 

 wriggling, spiny fish off 

 your hook. Look out 

 for the spines ! 



Another company of 

 cousins is the salmon 

 family. They have 

 soft fins but fierce teeth. The great salmon, which run 

 up the large rivers from the sea to deposit their eggs in 

 small streams so that the young fry may be far away 

 from their enemies these are called the monarchs 

 among all game fish. No cat can climb a tree more 

 nimbly than a salmon will shoot up the rapids, or leap 

 up a rushing fall of water. With the salmon belong 

 the lake trout, the white fish of the Great Lakes, and 

 the exquisite brook, or speckled trout. These fish are 

 without the large scales which belong to most fresh- 

 water fish. 



The little bull-head with its barbels hanging from its 

 lips, and with a head nearly as large as the remainder 

 of its body, is a near relative of the different kinds of 

 cat-fishes which inhabit rivers, lakes, and sea. The cat- 

 fish of the Mississippi often weighs a hundred and fifty 

 pounds. 



The cat-fish of Central Europe weighs as high as four 

 hundred pounds. Cat-fish are all hungry, barbarous, and 



L. C.-9. 



