(>! 



I'ISCIVOKOrs FISIIKS. 



The principal tlsh-catcrs amoiit'- our species — those whose average food 

 in the adult stage consists ot seventy- five per cent, or more of fishes— are 

 the burbot*, the piivc-perch'- or wall-eyed pike, the common pikc^' or '"pick- 

 erel," the large-mouthed black liass', the cliannel cat'-, the mud cat", and 

 the gars^. Possil)ly also the golden sliad" will \)v found strictly ichthy- 

 ophagous, this being the case with the four specimens which I studied. 



Those which take fishes in moderate amount— the ratios ranging in my 

 specimens from twenty-five to sixty-live per cent.— are the war-mouth 

 (Chamobryttus). the blue-cheeked siuitlsh-', the grass pickerel'", the dog- 

 fish' ', the spotted cat'-', and the small miller's thumb'=*. The white" and 

 striped bass'"-, the common perch'", the remaining sunflshes (those with 

 smaller mouths), the rock bass'^, and the croppie'", take but few fishes, 

 these making, according to my observations, not less than five nor more 

 than twenty-five per cent, of their food. 



Those which capture living fishes, to a trivial extent, at most, are the 

 white perch or sheepshead'^, gizzard shad^", the suckers'', and the shovel 

 fish'" among the larger species; the darters- =*, the brook silversides-**, the 

 stickleback-^, the mud minnows'", the top minnows'^^, the stonecats-", 

 and the common minnows'" generally, among the smaller kinds. 



Our eight specimens of the toothed herring''" had taken no fishes what- 

 ever; while our nineteen examples of the pirate perch=" had eaten only 

 two per cent. 



Kough-scaled fishes with spiny fins (Acanthopteri) were eaten by the 

 miller's thumb, the common pike, the wall-eyed pike, the large-mouthed 

 black bass, the croppies, the dog-fish, the common perch, the burbot, the 

 bull-head =»^, the common sunflsli [Lcpomis %>aUidm). the small-mouthed 

 black bass^*^', the grass pickerel, the gar, and the mud cat (Leptops). 

 Among these, the common perch and the sunflshes^** were most frequently 

 taken— doubtless owing to their greater relative abundance— the perch 

 occurring in the food of the burbot, the large-mouthed black bass, and 

 the bull-head ; and sunfishes in both species of the wall-eyed pike, the 

 common pike, the gars, pickerel, bull-heads, and mud cat. Black bass 

 were taken from the common pike (Esox), the wall-eyed pike (Stizoste- 

 dion), and the gar. Croppie and rock liass I recognized only in the pike. 

 Even the catflshes (SiluridaM with their stout, sharp, and poisoned spines, 

 were more frequently eaten than would be expected — taken, according to 

 my notes, by the wall-eyed pike, both black bass, and the nnid cat (the 

 latter a fellow species of the family). 



The soft-rtnued fishes were not very much more abundant, on the whole, 

 in the stomachs of other species than were those with ctenoid scales, 

 spiny fins, and other defensive structures, — an unexpected circumstance 

 which I cannot at present explain, because I do not know whether it ex- 

 presses a normal and fixed relation, or whether it may not be due to 

 human interference. It will be shown, however, under another head, that 

 even when the primitive order of nature prevails, the relative numbers of 

 soft-finned and pi'daceous tislies vary greatly from year to year under the 

 influence of varying circumstances. 



Only the catfishes seem to have acquired defensive structures equal to 

 their "protection, the predatory apparatus of the carnivorous fishes having 

 elsewhere outrun in development the protective equipment of the best- 

 defended species. 



'Lota maculosa. -Stizostedion vitroum. ^Esox luciu*. ■•Micropterus salmoides. 

 ■"■Ictalurus furcatus. ^Leptops olivaris. 'Lnpidosteus. *Clupea chrysoehloris. ''Lepomis 

 cyanellus. '"Esox vermiculatus. "Amiacalva. '-Ictalurus puncta us. '^Uranidea rich- 

 ardsonii. '^Roccus chrysops. i^Roccus intorruptus. '^Percalutea. '"Ambloplitcs rupes- 

 tris. '^Pomoxys. I'-'Apiodinotus. -"Dorosoma cepedianum. -'Catostomatidu'. -"-Polyo- 

 don spathula. "Etheostomatina\ '-^Laoidosthes sicculus. -sEucalia ineon-tans. -'^Umbra 

 limi. -'ZyKonectes. -^Noturus. -'Cyprinida\ ^"Hyodon tergisus. ^'Aphredoderus 

 sayanus. ^-Amiurus nebulosus. ^ajUQi-Qpterus dolomiei. ^*Centrarcnidjr. 



