16 FISHERMAN'S LURES 



large variety of minnows there are four of more 

 than ordinary value as game-fish food : The family 

 of top-minnows, which take their food mostly at 

 the surface of sluggish ponds, creeks, canals, and 

 slow-running rivers. The mud-minnows are bot- 

 tom feeders, though at times they rise to the sur- 

 face snapping at low-flying insects. The family 

 of sunfishes are the most abundant, having a wide 

 range from Canada to the Gulf. The family of 

 silversides are the most delicate species of all min- 

 nows, being most attractive in appearance for use 

 as bait, but very difficult to transport from their 

 habitat. 



From the scant information I have gathered, it 

 seems that the minnow family has been much 

 neglected by scientific writers, fish culturists 

 and others. Each State should include the breed- 

 ing and planting of these most valuable fish, not 

 only as food, but for their value as eradicators of 

 mosquitoes, which makes them of the greatest 

 economic importance where mosquitoes are a 

 pest. If it be not feasible for State hatcheries to 

 propagate minnows, nearly all of the different 

 families are easily transported from their nat- 

 ural breeding places in ponds, reservoirs, lakes, 

 rivers, and even ditches. After being trans- 



