382 PBAIKIE AND FOKEST. 



table addition, and my informants were perfectly correct. 

 I afterwards cut up the proboscis to satisfy my curiosity, 

 and found it entirely composed of gristle, the surface 

 underneath the skin being a labyrinth of veins. After- 

 wards I saw, at different times, many of this curious 

 family, thus proving that they are in no way rare ; still, I 

 have never seen them mentioned by naturalists. Probably 

 it is exclusively confined to inland American waters. 

 Further, I would say the vitality was remarkable, for after 

 transporting it home it lived for over an hour. The weight 

 of the entire fish was probably about sixteen pounds. 

 The next attraction noticed was what is familiarly known 

 in that vicinity as " the pond fish." In colour it much 

 resembles the beautiful black blass, in shape slender but 

 graceful ; the placement of the fins is the same as in the 

 pike family, but the head is small and not unlike that of a 

 trout. It is a greedy feeder, and from its being uneatable 

 (the flesh being hard and rank) is considered a great 

 bore by the fishermen. Their average weight is from two 

 to four pounds. Still another variety with which I had 

 been previously unacquainted was taken, viz. " the Great 

 Western carp," there called " the buffalo fish." It is 

 frequently captured of enormous size several I have seen 

 over twenty pounds. They are much and deservedly 

 esteemed, and are taken in immense numbers in the spring 

 of the year by spearing; for as soon as a flood takes 

 place, when the water is rising, they rush out over all the 

 inundated lands, wherever there is sufficient depth for 

 them to swim. For more than an hour one day I watched 

 a lad, spear in hand, who had taken his post over an 



