FRESH-WATER FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 113 
ventral and anal fins brilliant orange, during the spring and 
early summer, and later the color is dimmed but not lost. 
The color of the body is, as given by him, of “a greenish, 
brassy, or golden lustre." Smaller specimens even during 
the spring have the fins black and the general coloration sil- 
very; duller upon the back than the sides. This species is 
not as much annoyed by the approach of winter as are many 
of the cyprinoids, merely seeking deeper waters. By cutting 
a hole in the ice and letting down a well-baited hook they 
are readily taken, and the larger ones at this season are ex- 
cellent eating to those who are not incommoded by the mul- 
tiplicity of small bones. The largest “roach” we have ever 
seen measured exactly nine and seven-eighths inches. 
The Mud-sucker (Hylomyzon nigricans). In a tortuous 
tide-water creek, with unobstructed access to the Delaware, 
there are to be found at all seasons of the year where the 
water is deepest and the mud almost unfathomable, myri- 
ads of these “suckers”—old, young and middle-aged. Lazy, 
limp, almost lifeless, with a net they can be scooped up, 
offering no resistance, scarcely flapping their tails. As we 
follow up the course of this stream (Crosswick’s Creek, 
Burlington Co., N. J.) we still find them tucked in under 
the overhanging banks, and so listless that on the receding 
of the water, at the turn of the tide, they sometimes are left 
high and dry before they are aware of it.* In other 
streams of New Jersey the fish is less abundant, and found 
usually with the “mullet” (Moxostoma oblongum). As an 
article of food they are good from December until April, 
and from then until winter are as near worthless as any fish 
well can be. We once saw a large specimen in the jaws of 
a Water-snake ( T'ropidonotus sipedon), which squealed like 
* A similar instance of this is very well "a = a dec different "p uen Poa 
oroar 
PET PAE WM 
the recession of the water until too late. Between tides we have gathered over 
hundred in a space not over twenty yards square. Nothing in their stomachs owas 
what particular article of food they sought. 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. IV. 15 
