418 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



ance it is more like the rosy minnow described years ago 

 by Professor Agassiz, than any other cyprinoid, though 

 it is quite different. 



The first specimens that I found were collected late 

 in August, and the colors noted while they were in an 

 aquarium. The back is olive-green, the sides bright sil- 

 very; the scales generally marked with minute black 

 dots. As in the preceding, it is not the coloring but the 

 general appearance and grace of movement that make 

 this species so attractive and beautiful. 



The name of rosy minnow is only applicable to the 

 male fish in spring, when the silvery sides become a 

 beautiful shade of red. This lasts, however, but for a 

 few weeks. 



Since 1873, when I first found these minnows, I have 

 collected many others, and always in the canal or river. 

 They do not appear to enter Crosswicks Creek at all, 

 though why they should prefer the canal to the creek and 

 the net- work of ditches, is a problem I will not attempt 

 to solve. 



Associated with the above, in several instances, as I 

 find recorded in my notes, were individuals of a curious 

 cyprinoid, the " rosy dace " of the manual, and " pike- 

 shiner" of my memoranda. These cyprinoids are of 

 great interest because they have a fierce, pike-like appear- 

 ance, and their habits are in accordance with their ap- 

 pearance. In other words, they are very suggestive of 

 evolution, and are, in fact, an apparent branching off 

 from the original stock. 



To see these " pike-shiners," as the boys about here 

 call them, singly, moving deliberately about, at once re- 

 calls the pike ; and while I have never seen them catch a 

 fish and devour it, they do snap and swallow insects in the 



