THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
*5* 
The Water-dog {Protonopsis horrida) is a creature pretty well known all 
along water-courses of the Middle States, but in latter years it has become much 
less common than formerly. When a boy I frequently caught them when fish¬ 
ing in the Ohio river, and especially in creeks, for which they have a greater 
liking, but I am told that it is very seldom one is now caught in places where I 
once found water-dog fishing good. A very excellent description of this creature, 
by Messrs. Townsend and Frear, was published in the American Naturalist some 
few years ago, as follows : 
“The protonopsis , called water-dog , is an exceedingly voracious animal, feed¬ 
ing on fish, worms, craw-fish, etc.; some of those taken by me disgorged craw-fish 
shortly after being caught. May it not be a scavenger of the water? All my 
specimens 
were caught 
in a creek in 
western Penn¬ 
sylvania. It is 
well known to 
those accus¬ 
tomed to fish¬ 
ing the streams 
of this region, 
from its troub¬ 
lesome habit 
of taking bait 
placed in the 
water for 
nobler game. 
When thus 
hooked, its 
vicious biting 
and squirm¬ 
ing, together water-dog 
with the slime 
its skin secretes, render it extremely disagreeable as well as difficult to handle. 
It is often hooked while bottom fishing for catfish, and to avoid the trouble 
of handling the creature its head is cut off to facilitate the extraction of the hook. 
“ In the early summer, when the water is clear, water-dogs are often to be 
seen on the bottom in considerable numbers. Once, when fishing with some 
friends from a large rock in Loyalhanna creek, we saw quite a school of them 
moving sluggishly about among stones on the bottom. They would quickly 
take our hooks baited with meat or a piece of fish head. In one instance two 
large ones laid hold of the same bait and were lauded on the rock. Last 
August I fished on the same spot for them, but without success. Acting on 
the advice of a ‘native,’ I dropped some pieces of fish near certain rocks and 
this brought out the retired water-dogs , so that I soon caught ten. Those 
taken measured from ten to eighteen inches in length, but fishermen say they 
have frequently caught them measuring two feet. 
“ They are remarkably tenacious of life. I carried my specimens six miles 
in a bag behind me on horseback, under a blazing hot sun, and kept them 
