THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
VoL. x1v.— OCTOBER, 1880. — No. to. 
THE FOOD OF THE DARTERS. 
BY S. A. FORBES. 
— the humming-birds are in our avifauna, the “ darters ” 
are among our fresh-water fishes. Minute, agile, beautiful, 
delighting in the clear, swift waters of rocky streams, no group 
of fishes tis more interesting to the collector; and in the present 
state of their classification, none will better repay his study. Not- 
withstanding their trivial size, they do not seem to be dwarfed so 
much as concentrated fishes—each carrying in its little body all 
the activity, spirit, grace, complexity of detail and perfection of 
finish to be found in a perch or a “ wall-eyed pike.” 
To the entertaining and instructive account of the sub-family 
given by Jordan and Copeland in former numbers of the Natu- 
RALIST,! I propose to add a few notes on their food, based upon 
a study of the contents of seventy stomachs, and to point out 
Some of the correlations between structure and habit, with a view 
to accounting for the origin of the group. 
; These seventy specimens represented fifteen species, collected 
in all parts of Illinois, in several months of four successive years. 
They indicate much more than their number would imply, since 
from those collected at each time and place, as many were com- 
monly studied as were necessary to give a full idea of the food 
of the species then and there. The different individuals from the 
1“ Johnny Darters.” By D. S. Jordan and H, E. Copeland. Am. NAT., Vol. x, 
No. 6, June, 1876, pp. 335-341. o 
“The Sand Darter.” By D. S. Jordan and H. E, Copeland, Am. NAT., Vol. xi, — 
— No.2, Feb., 1877, pp. 86-88. 
VOL. XIV.<=NO. x. 45 
