3l8 REPORT OF THE 



will seldom fail to add many a good-sized Chub to his string. It takes the hook 

 readily and really makes a good fight, a fight which mightily pleases the young 

 Walton and which he recalls with pleasure and with a quickening of the blood many 

 long years after he has ceased to fish the brooks for Chubs. 



As the Chub delights in the cold water of the small brooks, it is frequently met 

 with by the trout fisherman, and there are those who maintain, and not without 

 reason, that the presence of Chub in a trout stream argues ill for the trout, owing to 

 the fondness of the former for the eggs and fry of Salveliiuis fontinalis. 



Be this as it may, there is no fish of which the Black Bass is more fond than this 

 same Chub, and for bass fishing there is no better bait. It is full of tenacity of life 

 and seldom dies either in the bucket or on the hook. It is active and moves about 

 when on the hook in the most attractive manner. For bass fishing too large a Chub 

 must not be chosen. Of course the size will depend much upon the place and the 

 kind of bass sought, but it is not often worth while to' use Chubs more than 6 inches 

 in length ; those 4 inches or under are apt to prove far more killing. 



Head 3%^; depth 4; eye about 5; dorsal with 7 rays, the anal with 8; scales 

 9-55-6, those in the lateral line varying from 50 to 60, or even more, the number 

 greatest in northern examples ; teeth 2,5-4,2. 



The body is moderately stout and little compressed ; the dorsal outline is arched 

 in front of the dorsal fin, the body tapering backwards from a point considerably in 

 front of that fin, so that the base of the fin is oblique. The head is large and heavy, 

 broad and rounded above, the snout rather long and broad ; mouth broad and 

 oblique, the lower jaw somewhat included, the upper lip a little below the level of 

 the pupil ; maxillary barely reaching front of pupil ; maxillary barbel small, not evi- 

 dent in examples under 2 or 3 inches in length ; eye small ; scales small, reduced and 

 crowded anteriorly, about 30 series in front of dorsal fin ; lateral line considerably 

 decurved ; fins all small, the dorsal well behind the ventrals, its insertion behind the 

 fifteenth vertebra, its last ray well in advance of the base of the anal. 



Color, dusky bluish above, the side with a vague, dusky band, black in the 

 young, but disappearing in the adult ; belly creamy white, rosy-tinted in males in 

 spring; dorsal fin always with a conspicuous black spot at the base in front, a char- 

 acter which readily distinguishes this species from the Fall-fish, its nearest rela- 

 tive, and the fish it most resembles; behind the opercle is a dusky bar; the young 

 with a small black spot at base of caudal fin ; males with the snout strongly and 

 coarsely tuberculate in spring. 



This fish reaches a maximum length of a foot or 15 inches, though examples of 

 that size are not often seen. When kept in a live-box or an aquarium, the Creek 

 Chub feeds freely upon clams and angle-worms, and will even take young fish. 



