V. THE FISHES OF THE FARM STREAM 



' ' To dangle your legs where the fishing is good 

 Can't you arrange to come down?" 



—Riley (To the Judge). 



Before the days of husbandry, man's supply of animal food 

 consisted of fish and game. Edible things found running on 

 land were game : if found in the water, they were fish. So 

 we have the names shellfish, crawfish, cuttlefish, etc., still 

 applied to things that are not fishes at all. The true fishes 

 were, and probably always will be, the chief staple crop of the 

 water. 



While waters were plenty and men were few, fishes fur- 

 nished the most constant and dependable supply of animal 

 food. The streams teemed with them. There were many 

 kinds. They were easily procured. Before there were 

 utensils, fishes were spitted over an open fire, or roasted in 

 the coals. But ancient and important as the fish supply has 

 been to us, we have not taken measures adequate to its 

 preservation. We have cared for the crops of the field and the 



Fig. 26. Diagram of a fish (the black bass) with the fins named on the diagram: 

 ventral fin is also called pelvic. Drawing by Miss Dorothy Curtis. 



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