CHAPTER XXXYI. 



BRIEF NOTES ON FISHES. (CONCLUDED.) 



CONSIDERED as a group, there are no fishes so attract- 

 ive to me as the " shiners." I do not like to separate 

 them, and call one a chub, another a dace, and a third a 

 minnow. This savors too much of later anatomical stud- 

 ies. My first attempt at field-notes reads thus : " "Walked 

 along the creek and saw lots of shiners " ; and my latest 

 rambles by the same stream can be no more comprehen- 

 sively described. The " lots of shiners " still are there, 

 and I only wish I dared sit under the old chestnut-trees, 

 as I could once, and catch these same shiners with a pin- 

 hook. Now, if I go a-fishing at all, it must be with 

 "boughten" tackle and a basket, and only bass or pike 

 must be angled for. This is called sport, but the fun of 

 pin-hook and tow-string days is wanting. Now I can 

 only gaze wistfully at these same shiners, and wish I was 

 a boy. 



This class of fishes, known scientifically as cyprinoids, 

 are readily recognized as the roach, dace, chub, and min- 

 now of our streams. There is a strong family likeness 

 running through the class, and a general silvery coloring 

 which has given rise to the comprehensive term " shin- 

 ers." 



I find that there are fourteen species in the creeks and 

 river at this place. At least, following the text-books, 

 this is true ; but I have found others which are hard to 



