382 GAME FISH OF NORTH AMERICA. 



They do not ascend to the extreme headwaters to spawn, but 

 leave the deeper parts of the stream whenever the humor takes' 

 them, and deposit their spawn along the edges. After spawning, 

 most of them return toward salt water. Some are found during 

 the summer. They thrive freely in ponds, and are thought to be 

 not destructive to the spawn of other fish. They vary in length 

 from one to two feet, and weigh from one-half a pound to five 

 pounds. Shape long and flattened ; fins arranged something like 

 the fresh water mullets ; heads and mouths almost precisely like 

 the mullet's, the mouth being a sucker and extremely small. They 

 run very near the bottom, and only take food lying on the bottom. 

 They bite at hooks baited with crumbs of bread or red worms, in 

 taking which they assume a perpendicular position, standing on 

 their heads, as it were. They are vegetable feeders. 



Carp are said to have been first observed in Virginia from fifty- 

 five to sixty years ago, though it is hardly probable that their in- 

 troduction antedates the year 1832, when a lot were brought over 

 from France by the captain of a Havre packet. The Virginia 

 carp are said never to go below brackish water. A gentleman in 

 Woodville, Mississippi, who is engaged in the artificial propagation 

 of carp, says that the eggs hatch in twenty-four hours after being 

 deposited, they being always attached to brush or sticks floating 

 in the pond. [See note at end of chapter.] 



Red Horse ; Pittsburgh sx^aV^r.—Moxostoma diiquesnii. Jordan. 



A large-scaled, red-finned sucker, with dusky olive back, cop- 

 per}- sides, and whitish abdomen, attaining a weight of six pounds 

 . and a length of twenty inches. 



Jack Mijllet ; black swckeT.—Uyperteliam nigricans. Le Sueur. 



A reddish fish marked with irregular black blotches ; fins red- 

 dish, dashed with black ; dorsal bluish. This beautiful sucker 

 lives in stony and rocky creeks, in places where the current ripples. 

 Specimens may be seen resting motionless on flat rocks at the 

 bottom, and darting away like a flash at the approach of man. 

 The larger ones take shelter beneath rocks, with cavities under- 

 neath, where they remain except when tempted away by want of 

 food. 



