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 havecared for the crops of the field and the 
ventral 
Fic. 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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