es 
1254 On the. Habits of Certain Sunfish. (December, 
development, Orchidez, Liliaceze, Palmæ and Graminea, say that 
one was descended from or even directly connected with the 
others? It would be a violation of all principles of classification, 
and a libel on common sense. But when we take each order and 
show how, through this genus or that one, it is directly or re- 
motely connected with some other one, then we feel a little conf 
dence in saying we are approaching a natural classification. None 
of our systems can be entirely natural at present. We do not 
know, as yet, the characters and affinities of all the plants in the 
world, and until we do know that we cannot hope for anything 
but an approximation towards the correct idea of a perfectly nat- 
ural arrangement of plants. Lees 
[ Note-—This article was first read at a meeting of the Cinci 
nati Society of Natural History, and the first portion of it, vit, 
that relating to the Compositæ, was afterwards read at the i- 
neapolis meeting of the Am. Assoc. for the Adv. of Science.] 
:0: 
ON THE HABITS: OF CERTAIN SUNFISH. 
BY C. C. ABBOTT, M.D. 
Yt les Soe the two small centrarchoids, Mesogonistins chal é 
don, or banded sunfish, and Enneacanthus simulans, Ot Spo" 
sunfish, have been long known to ichthyologists, almost no . 
has been recorded of their habits. ao : 
In those of our shallow, sluggish waters, which have an" 
nitely deep, muddy bottom, and harbor a rank gr wth of : pe , 
vegetation, the handsome, silvery, black-banded sunfish cae 
mon species. In such localities, where often the weeds £ 
luxuriantly that a Scoop-net cannot be drawn, I have 5 be 
hundreds of these fishes were passing what I think mer 
most monotonous existence. In some places locomotion . 
be rather a scramble among the water weeds, than a cof 
swim. Still, these spots have their advantages, een 
plants are to be found myriads of insect larve and ot . 
popular, and indeed, they are better known as dwellers 1” 
narrow quarters than as a prominent species 1n t 
Lower Delaware valley. I believe they are not eu 
water at all. I have frequently shown these fish to ol" 
