CARP , DA CE AND MINNO W. 
439 
Valley, growing to a weight of twenty or thirty pounds and a length of 
thre$ feet. 
Bubalichthys unis , of Agassiz, occurs in the same waters, and is called 
the Big-mouth Buffalo. In the Ohio and Mississippi Basins it is used very 
extensively for food, and grows to weigh fifty pounds or more. 
Bubalichthys altus , which, like I. bubalus , is a small-mouth species, is 
distinguished by its smaller head and other characteristics. (See Jordan’s 
“ Synopsis,” p. 116.) 
The name “ Gaspergou ” is shared by these fishes with the fresh-water 
Drum. 
The only angling book which tells how to catch Buffaloes is a very old 
one, that of Brown. A bottom line of good strength and heavily leaded 
is used, and the bait prescribed is a wad of soft cheese and raw cotton. 
The “ Rabbit-mouth Sucker,” Quassilabia lacera , “Hare-lip,” “Split- 
mouth” or “May-sucker” is found in abundance in many rivers of 
Tennessee and in some streams in Ohio. It reaches a length of about 
eighteen inches, being .one of the smaller species, but its qualities as a 
food-fish are said to be better than usual in this family. 
The name “ Sucker ” has acquired a special and by no means complete 
significance in the colloquial language of the United States, being applied 
to worthless fellows, and especially to topers. The allusion is doubtless 
to the slow, greedy habits of the fishes of this family. 
