382 THE MOUNTAIN. 



a climber or mountaineer. Rarely seen in the extremely 

 high runs, it prefers the deeper streams with pools and 

 eddies. Here he may be seen poised under the floating 

 water-plants, splatter-docks, and potomogotons, near the 

 edge of the stream, looking up familiarly as if he wished, 

 for variety, to leave his watery medium for a time and 

 make a still more flashy display of the rays he has stolen 

 from the sun. Thus, with quivering fin ; motionless body, 

 and great staring eyes, he fills the fisher-boy with the deli- 

 cious perturbation that Campbell or Gerhard might feel in 

 the presence of the king of the desert, the lion. 



POMOTIS Appendix. Black-eared sun-fish. This species 

 is found in the ponds at eastern base of the mountain. 



Family TRIGLID^E. 



COTTUS Gracilis, (Heck.) URANIDEA Quiescens, (Dekay.) 

 Little star-gazer, Miller's thumb. This strange little fish 

 attains only to the length of a few inches. It lies still on 

 the bottom of the streams, under stones, moving quickly 

 when disturbed, and darting off to a new hiding-place. 



COTTUS Yiscosus, (Hald.) This species penetrates the 

 mountain streams. 



" West of the Alleghany we know of the existence of two 

 species, one C. Bairdii, in the northern, the other, C. Wil- 

 sonii, in the eastern tributaries of the Ohio." (Girard.) 

 Do these species penetrate high into the Alleghany range ? 



SOFT-BAYED FISHES. 

 (Family Siluridae.) 



PIMELODUS Catus. The common cat-fish has a wide 

 range, New Hampshire to Florida. Two or three species 

 of the genus Pimelodus are found in the waters flowing 

 from the mountain. Only the smaller species penetrate the 

 higher streams, and these never get very near the spring- 

 heads. 



