Chap. 5, 



FISHES OF VERMONT. 



127 



PRELIMINARY OBSF.RVATIONS. 



and not often changed, it soon finds the 

 air in the water insufficient for its pur- 

 pose, in which case it comes to the sur- 

 face, takes in a mouthful of air, and sinks 

 again with it to the bottom. After re- 

 taining the air for a time, probably long 

 enough for the consumption of its oxygen 

 in the lungs, it suffers it to escape through 

 the mouth and gill openings, and it is 

 seen to rise in small bubbles to the sur- 

 face. Tliis animal is said to be found in 

 several places tat the west, particularly in 

 streams falling into lake Ontario, where 

 it is said sometimes to attain the length 

 of two feet. The length of those taken 

 at Winooski Falls varies from 8 to J 3 in- 

 ches. I have never seen one which ex 

 ceeded 15 inches. The best figure of our 

 animal which I have seen published is in 

 the Annals of N. Y. Lyceum, vol. I, plate 

 16. The description and figure in Dr. 

 Holbrook's American Herpetology do not 



answer to our Menobranchus, but as Prof. 

 G. W. Benedict has furnished Dr. H. with 

 an accurate colored figure, drawn from a 

 living specimen by the Rt. Rev. J. H. 

 Hopkins, we hope to see it correctly rep- 

 resented in a future volume of his splen- 

 did and valuable work. We are strongly 

 inclined to believe the animal which he 

 describes to be a different species from 

 ours. Notwithstanding what he and oth- 

 ers have said in proof of the identity of 

 the Triton lalcralis of Say, the Menobran- 

 chus lateralis of Harlan, Holbrook, and 

 others, with the reptile described by 

 Schneider, I am strongly inclined to the 

 opinion that they are different species. I 

 have therefore given the name suggested 

 by Prof. Benedict, and adopted by Barnes, 

 the preference, and have described our 

 animal under the name of Menobranchus 

 macAilntiis, that being descriptive of our 

 reptile, and the other not so. 



COAPTER V. 



FISHES OF VERMONT, 



Preliminary Observations. 



Fishes constitute the Fourth Class of 

 the animal kingdom. They are vertebra- 

 ted animals, with cold red blood. They 

 respire by means of branchiae, or gills, 

 and they move in water by means of fins. 

 Their entire structure is as evidently fit- 

 ted for swimming as that of birds is for 

 flight. The tail is the principal organ of 

 motion, and progression is effected by 

 striking it alternately from right and left 

 against the water. T^^ mean specific 

 gravity of fishes is the same as the fluid 

 in which they live, so that no eff'ort is re- 

 quired to keep them suspended, and a 

 large part of them are furnished with an 

 air bladder, by the compression or dilata- 

 tion of which they can vary their specific 

 gravity, and thus rise or descend without 

 tlie aid of their fins. 



The head of fishes is usually larger in 

 proportion to the size of the body than 

 that of other animals ; and although it is 

 subject to great variety of form, it in al- 

 most all cases consists of the same num- 

 ber of bones as is found in other ovipar- 

 ous animals. These bones are separate 

 in young fishes, but in older ones become 

 united and consolidated so as to make it 



difficult to distinguish them. The Jios- 

 frils are simple cavities placed at the front 

 of the snout, and usually double. The 

 cornea of the ei/e is ver}' flat, and has but 

 little aqueous humor, but the crystalline 

 is h.trd and globular. The car of fishes is 

 ver} obscure, and, having neither eustach- 

 ian tubes nor tympanal bones, their 

 sense of hearing must be very imperfect. 

 The head is attached to the body in sucJi 

 manner that its motioniis exceedingly lim- 

 ited. The tongue varies in different fam- 

 ilies : in some it is fleshy, but in many ca- 

 ses it is osseous and frequently covered 

 with teeth, so that their sense of taste 

 must be very obtuse. The body of fishes 

 is in most cases covered with scales, which 

 cannot allow much sensibility to the 

 touch. This imperfection is, ])robably, 

 supplied in some cases by the fleshy cirri, 

 with which several species are furnished. 

 The terth of fishes vary almost infinitely 

 in number, form and situation. Besides 

 the jaws, they are often found upon the 

 tongue and palate, and not unfrequently 

 in the throat and at the base of the gills, 

 while some families are entirely destitute 

 of them. The stomach is generally sim- 

 ple and the intestines short. 



The se.xes of fishes are distinguished by 



