FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



317 



and Valenciennes added another synonj^m in 1844, Storer another in 1845, Professor 

 Baird one in 1861, Cope one in 1861, and finally, Cope another in 1864; and thus it 

 appears that the Fall-fish has been described as new no fewer than 1 1 times and is 

 consequently heavily burdened with synonymy. 



The Fall-fish is one of the few minnows which attains sufificient size to entitle it 

 to rank as a food-fish. Although Thoreau has said that " the chub is a soft fish and 

 tastes like brown paper salted," the estimate is not altogether just, for there are 

 worse pan-fish than the chub. 



CXZZ^ CJi)Qh,— Scinotilus atromaculatus (Mitchill). 



This fish is known also as the Common Chub, Horned Dace, and, in some locali- 

 ties, as the Fall-fish. This latter designation, however, should be reserved for the 

 preceding species. 



CREEK CHUB. 



The Creek Chub is a fish of wide distribution. It has been found as far east as 

 Freeport, Maine, and in the Housatonic River in Massachusetts, thence westward to 

 Kansas and Wyoming, and from Ontario on the north to Tennessee and southern 

 Missouri on the south. It was originally described by Mitchill from the Wallkill 

 River, New York. It is, in most places where found, one of the most abundant and 

 best known species. In the small streams where it most abounds, it is often the 

 largest and most voracious inhabitant. It rarely occurs in lakes or ponds, but may 

 be found in the larger creeks and rivers, though it prefers the smaller creeks and 

 brooks. During the spring it will be found upon the riffles and coarse gravel bars, 

 where it comes to spawn and where it constructs elaborate and conspicuous nests. 

 When the spawning season is over and the water has become warmer, the Creek 

 Chub will more often be found in the deeper and more quiet pools, where it feeds 

 upon angle-worms, insect larvae, and such other small animals as come in its way. It 

 is extremely voracious, and the small boy with hook baited with grub or angle-worm 



