B ATRAC HI A. 



309 



ca, the former generally distributed in the drainage of the Mississippi basin, the 

 latter confined, so far as known, to the southern Alleghany region, Protonopsis hor- 

 rida is the well-known hell-bender of the Ohio. It is aquatic in its habits, and is fre- 

 quently caught by fishermen on their set-hooks. . The following accounts of its habits 

 are given by Messrs. Townsend and Frear in the American Naturalist for February 

 and April, 1882. 



" The Protonopsis, called ' alligator ' and ' water-dog,' is an exceedingly vora- 

 cious animal, feeding on fish, worms, crayfish, etc. ; some of those taken by me 

 disgorged crayfish shortly after being caught. May it not be a scavenger of the 

 water? All my specimens were caught in the Loyalhanna creek, Westmoreland 

 county, Pa. It is well known to those accustomed to fish in the streams of this 

 region, from its troublesome habit of taking bait placed in the water for nobler game. 



Fig. IK.— MuT<Enopsis tridaclyla. 



When thus hooked, its vicious biting and squirming, together with the slime which 

 its skin secretes, render it exceedingly disagreeable to handle. It is often hooked in 

 bottom-fishing for cat-fish. Many anglers cut the hook off rather than extract it, and 

 the amphibian's flat head is often rendered still flatter by a lively application of the 

 sportsman's boot-heel. 



" In the early summer, when the water is clear, Protonopses are often to be 

 seen on the bottom in considerable numbers. Once, when fishing with some friends 

 from off a large rock in the Loyalhanna creek, we saw quite a shoal of them moving 

 sluggishly about among the stones on the bottom. They would quickly take our 

 hooks baited with a piece of meat or a fish head. In one instance two large ones laid 

 hold of the same bait and were promptly landed on the rock. In a few minutes we 

 had a dozen. Last August I fished the same spot for them, but without success. 

 Acting on the advice of a ' native ' (which was to drop some bait — dead fish, etc., 



