FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



337. 



Head 4; depth 41^ ; D. 8 ; A. 7 ; scales 8-53-5 '< teeth 1,4-4,1. Body rather stout, 

 scarcely compressed; head large, broad and flattish above, with tumid cheeks.; 

 mouth moderate, slightly oblique, maxillary not reaching orbit ; upper jaw longer 

 than lower ; scales rather crowded anteriorly, those in front of dorsal small. 



Color, olivaceous, smoky or dark above ; a blackish bar behind opercle, and a 

 dusky shade at base of caudal in the young ; fins plain. 



This species closes the list of true minnows or Cyprinidce used to any extent as 

 bait in New York or other eastern states. Several other small fishes and the young 

 of a few species of larger fishes are frequently used as bait, of which the following 

 are pertinent to the present article : 



Common ^altbead, — Amewrus nebulosus (Le Sueur). 



The Common Bullhead, Horned Pout, Small Catfish, or Schuylkill Cat, as it is 

 variously called, is well known to everyone and needs no detailed description. It 



BLACK BULLHEAD. 



reaches a length of a foot or more and is a pan-fish of no small importance. When 

 taken from cold-water lakes or streams no sweeter fish can be found. It occurs 

 throughout the entire eastern United States from New Brunswick and the Great 

 Lakes region southward to Florida and Texas, and is abundant in every pond, lake 

 and sluggish stream. 



Covering much the same range is the Black Bullhead {Ameiuriis melas), much 

 resembling the Common Bullhead, but somewhat smaller, blacker, and with but 17 

 to 19 rays in the anal instead of 21 or 22. 



In many places the young of these two species, i^ to 3 inches long, are used in 



fishing for Black Bass and Wall-eyed Pike. They are so used quite extensively in 



the Potomac and Susquehanna rivers. 

 22 



