414 



ORDERS OF FISHES— SUCKERS, CARP AND MINNOWS 



thereby; but this charge remains to be proven. 

 The chances are as ninety-nine to one that the 

 choke-bore shot-gun is the real and the only cause 

 of the decrease in wild ducks. 



It is also claimed that Carp eat the eggs of 

 other fishes ; which is extremely probable, for very 

 many fishes do that. 



Whatever may be said for or against the de- 

 sirability of the Carp in America, one important 

 fact remains unassailed. That fish is now thor- 

 oughly established in our waters, and is here to 

 stay, just as much as the English sparrow. It 

 is rapidly coming into demand as a market fish. 

 " Over seven million -pounds are consumed yearly 

 in New York City. From the Illinois River 

 over six million pounds are taken annually; 

 and over seventeen million pounds are now 

 marketed annually in the United States. At 

 Port Clinton, near the western end of Lake Erie, 

 great quantities are taken, and placed in large 

 ponds until the market is ripe for them, when 

 they are taken out and sold. Hundreds of tons 

 are skinned, sent to the markets of Cincinnati, 

 Louisville and St. Louis, and sold as buffalo 

 fish." (C. H. Townsend.) 



Minnows. — No common fishes of our country, 

 it is safe to say, are so little understood, or so 

 generally misunderstood, as those classed under 

 the above name. To most persons a "Minnow" 

 is a tiny young fish, from one to three inches in 

 length, useful only as bait for bass, and other 

 fishes. 



The Minnow Family contains (says "Ameri- 

 can Food and Game Fishes") 200 genera, and 

 more than 1,000 species, of which about 225 are 

 found in our waters. 



Many a Minnow only two inches in length is 

 a fully-grown fish; but some species of Minnows 

 attain a length of from one to two feet. One of 

 the Pacific coast species (the Squaw-Fish) some- 

 times reaches a length of 4 feet. 



For obvious reasons, it is impracticable to 

 attempt to set forth even the leading species of 

 this extensive Family, but it is proper to men- 

 tion that to it belong the Hornyhead, of the 

 Ohio and Mississippi valleys, the Fallfish of 

 the northern Atlantic states, the Common Chub 

 of the northeastern states, the Columbia Chub 

 of the far northwestern states, and the Utah 

 Lake Chub of Utah and northwestern Wyoming. 



