THE CARP FAMILY. ^55 



In Eastern Virginia the Sucker is called " Carp," and they 

 are fished for in the same manner as the Carp in England ; 

 this mode of angling having no doubt been handed down by 

 the early settlers. A hole in the creek, river, or mill-pond 

 is baited every evening for a week or ten days with coarse 

 corn-meal dough, and is then fished early in the morning and 

 late in the afternoon ; the season of the year, April, October, 

 and November. 



In still water a float is used, and a small hook with an 

 earth-worm put on so as to let it crawl on the bottom ; it is 

 sucked in by the fish ; the motion of the cork is slight, the 

 angler striking as it moves off, or as it is drawn gently 

 under. 



BUFFALO FISH. 



Catostomus bubalus : Rafinesque. 



In mentioning the specific characteristics of this fish, Eafi- 

 nesque says : " Diameter one-fifth of the total length ; oliva- 

 cious brown, pale beneath, fins blackish, pectoral fins brown 

 and short; head sloping, snout rounded, cheeks whitish; 

 lateral straight, dorsal fin narrow, with twenty-eight equal 

 rays, anal trapezoidal with twelve rays." "It is called every- 

 where Buffalo Fish, and ' Piconeau' by the French settlers of 

 Louisiana. It is commonly taken with a dart at night when 

 asleep, or in the seine ; it does not bite readily at the hook. 

 It feeds on smaller fishes and shells,* and often goes in shoals." 



This is a true Sucker, though his proportions are very 

 unlike the elongated friend of our youthful days. Its shape 



* An error. None of the Catostomi feed on molluscs ; their weak jaws 

 and peculiar mouth render it impossible. 



