424 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



the author of the manual to be inappropriate, and that 

 the fish frequents clear streams and rapids, and is not at 

 all a " mud-fish," as some writers seem to suppose. Now 

 it is very probably true that this fish is a " stone-roller " 

 out West, but this does not prevent its poking into the 

 mud in the Delaware Valley. Some years ago I found 

 a number of these fish in Crosswicks Creek, and noticed 

 their decided preference for the muddy bottom and com- 

 paratively still waters of certain portions of the creek ; 

 and in all the years since then, there has been nothing 

 noticed in their choice of locality that has led me to think 

 otherwise. In this same creek there is an abundance of 

 rapid waters and pebbly bottoms, but these are not fre- 

 quented more than the mud. Since the publication of 

 the manual, I have looked this up, and know whereof I 

 speak. For instance, one pleasant August afternoon in 

 1881, 1 slowly floated with the tide down the creek, and 

 carefully watched a number of these black suckers as they 

 were slowly swimming up the creek. They were all 

 moving in the same manner, with their noses thrust a 

 short distance into the mud, and they left behind them, 

 as they passed by, a shallow, wavy line in the mud, 

 which was easily traced through the clear waters. Had 

 I seen no fish, I should have taken these lines to have 

 been the tracks of mollusks. 



Lastly, there is the omnipresent " mullet," and verily 

 I do not think there is a rod of shallow ditch, even, that 

 is not tenanted by a dozen of them. When young, they 

 associate with whatever cyprinoids happen to be wan- 

 dering in the same waters, their habits being essen- 

 tially the same. Unlike the other four " suckers " I have 

 mentioned, this fish, when young, thrives well in per- 

 fectly quiet water, and seems to suffer no inconvenience 

 when the July sun warms the still ponds to such a degree 



