By Dr. BARTON WARREN EVERMANN 

 Ichthyologist, U. S. Fish Commission. 



THE great majority of the " bait minnows " used by anglers in America belong 

 to the Cypriiiidce^ which is the Carp or Minnow family proper. Two or 

 three are catfishes, three or four are darters, one or more species of killifish 

 are used to some extent, the skipjack {LabidestJies sicculus) is used in some places 

 for certain kinds of fishing, and the young of several species of suckers are seen 

 in the live-box of the dealer in " minnows" or in the bucket of 

 the amateur angler. The mud minnow i^Uinbra iiini), which, 

 of course, is no minnow at all, any more than that it is 

 a young dogfish {Auiia calva), as many a fisherman 

 will assure you, may also be found among the species 

 offered for sale. And all these have their advan- 

 tages, — that of Uiiibj-a being that it will live 

 and remain vigorous under any kind of 

 treatment ; even the game fish will let it 

 severely alone. 



Even young bass, perch and blobs may 

 now and then be seen in the live-boxes, and 

 unsophisticated anglers may be inveigled 

 into paying a good round price for them 

 upon the recommendation of the conscience- 

 less dealer who asseverates that they are 

 " just the thing." 



With a few exceptions, however, all the 

 minnows used for bait belong to a single 

 famih", the Cyprinidce, an exceeding large family of fishes, usually small in size, 

 found throughout North America, Europe and Asia. The number of species found 

 in each of these three continents is very great, and the total number of known species 

 in the familj' is very large. In North America alone the family is represented by 

 about 40 genera and 130 species. There is scarcely a stream or lake which has not 



307 



A GOOD STRING. 



