BONY AND LEATHER MOUTHS. 



35 



The division of anglers' fishes into such as are and such as 

 are not leather-mouthed may be important to the young an- 

 gler, as different management is required in playing each. 

 Old anglers considered such fishes leather-mouthed as have 

 their teeth in the throat. Hooks seldom part their hold from 

 the mouths of such fishes, which are not generally regarded 

 as gamy, though good sport for ladies and youth. But the 

 contrary is the case with the striped bass, squeteague, pick- 

 erel, maskinonge, perch, and most game fishes which are 

 white-meated. These have a bony mouth, and not much 

 flesh or skin to hold a hook; therefore you are never sure 

 of landing these fish unless you play them so lightly as not 

 to permit them a foot of slack line, except, perchance, they 

 have gorged the hook. 



That water-grasses and some other plants are partly the 

 food of leather-mouthed fishes, especially of the carp genus, 

 is unquestionable ; and in the Orient herbivorous fishes are 

 considered the most delicate and highly prized. But when 

 they feed on liver, brewers' grains, boiled barley, split peas, 

 and the like, they probably mistake these for the eggs or co- 

 coons of water animals, inasmuch as they could not procure a 

 supply of these except by rare accident. That some fish may 

 feed on the seeds of such plants as are scattered about the 

 water is not improbable, and it may have been from observ- 

 ing this that it is recommended by Lebault and Debraw, aft- 

 er removing the fish to let fish-ponds dry, to sow them with 

 oats or other grain, and, when it is ripe, to let the water 

 again into the pond, and bring back the fish to feed. Bowlker 

 remarks that carp will eat barley, wheat, or oaten bread, 

 while tench and perch will not touch it. Of course perch 

 prefer meats to vegetable diet ; but as the tench differs with 

 the carp upon vegetable diet, both being vegetarians, it 

 proves that fishes have discriminative tastes. 



Most leather-mouthed fishes like both vegetable and ani- 

 mal diet, and the carp is said to devour young eels, frog- 

 spawn, fish-roe, and young fishes, including its own species, 



