The Food of Fishes. 
Twelve of this species were examined, two of which 
were under three inches in length, and the others adult. 
Food of the Young. 
A specimen two inches long, taken in the Illinois R., at 
Pekin, June 2, 1880, had eaten only a minute fish. One, 
two and a half inches long, taken at the same place in 
June, 1878, had also eaten a small fish and a few Ento- 
mostraca (Cypridkke and Daphniidae). The appearance 
of these Entomostraca in the food of a fish of this size, 
makes it altogether probable that Stizostethium, like 
Perea, wholly depends on these minute Crustacea, when 
very young. 
Food of the Adult. 
The remaining specimens, taken from three localities, 
had eaten nothing but fishes, one-half of them only the 
hickory-shad or skip-jack (Dory soma cepedianum) . In one 
other specimen, this species was associated witli a min- 
now (Cyprinidae), and in still another with a small sun- 
fish with three anal spines (Centrarehidae). One of the 
remaining stomachs contained only an unrecognizable 
fish, and the other two contained Cyprinidae, including 
the creek chub, Semotilus corporalis . 
The two species of this genus agree so closely in food 
that they may well be discussed together. Apart from 
their exclusively piscivorous habit, the most interesting 
fact shown is the importance of the hickory-shad as food 
for this fish. We shall find accumulating evidence that 
this shad, utterly useless for human food, is, notwith- 
standing, one of the most valuable fishes in our streams. 
Nevertheless, not the slightest attention is paid to its 
preservation, much less to its encouragement. The fisher- 
men commonly regard these fishes as a mere nuisance, 
and leave them to die on the bank by hundreds, rather 
than take the trouble to return them to the water. They 
are a very delicate species, and are easily killed by rough 
handling in the seine, but the majority of those captured 
might be saved with a little care. 
The abundance of these fishes as compared with some 
other species in the river might seem to indicate that they 
