MILLER’S THUMB. 991 
He described its characteristics admirably, saying that it lived under stones, and that 
when the top of the stone was siruck, the fish would come out and dart around with 
‘incredible swiftness, as if the unwonted noise made it crazy. 
‘The Star Gazer lives in clear, cold brooks, and in the sheltered part of lakes; and 
like many other fishes does not object to cating its smaller brothers and sisters. The 
subject of this paper lives near the west shore of the lake, down three or four miles at 
least, and is especially abundant at the mouth of cool, spring brooks. 
“There are two interesting points with reference to its eating and respiration that 
have never been described of any fish in American books so far as I know. Fishes are 
very quick in their movements, and very slippery, so that itis not only difficult to cateh 
them, but to hold them after they are caught. In the Star Gazer, as in many other . 
fishes, there is a very effectual means of preventing the escape of whatever may be 
caught. in both Jaws there are very numerous, sharp, conical, recurved teeth, having 
a strong hinge on the side toward the throat, and an e'astic band on the opposite side. 
These hing:d teeth are set upon a bony buse, and from the arrangement of the hinge, 
they are very readily bent toward the throat, but are immediately straightened by the 
elastic band when the pressure is removed ; but after being once straightened the strong 
hinge and bony base will not allow them to move farther in that direction. Whenever 
a fish is caught the teeth are readily bent toward the throat, thus freely permitting 
motion in that direction; but if by any means the motion tended to be in the other di- 
rection, the teeth would form a myriad of rigid hooks preventing any escape In all 
the struggles of the prey to escape, every motion toward the throat would be easy, but 
motion in the opposite direction would be impossible, so that the very efforts to escape 
only render escape the more hopeless. Truly we might well write over this fearful 
portal the gloomy words of Dante, ‘* All hope abandon ye who enter here.” 
‘The mechanism of respiration is very complex, but its whole office is to force cur- 
rents of water over the gills and so purify the blood. There is one very interesting 
point in this mechanism, waich bas not been described in Amorican books as is stated 
above, but which is easily understood. As fishes do not have fleshy lips to securely 
close their mouths, it is evident that when there is an attempt to force the water filing 
the mouth cavity over the gills and out through the gil] fissures, it will tend to flow out 
through the mouth as well as through the gil fissures To prevent this regurgitation, 
and insure the passage of the current over the gills there is both on the floor and roof 
of the mouth, just behind the jaws, a crescent shaped membranous curtain. These cur- 
tains are attached at their anterior edges, but their posterior edges float freely. When- 
ever water is drawn into the mouth the curtains float up against the roof and down 
against the floor of the mouth, offering no resistance whatsoever to the current. When 
the mouth is closed to force the water over the gills, the water tends to flow out through 
the opening of the mouth, but in doing so it gets above and below the curtains, moving 
them so that their free edges meet, and as they are so fastened in front that they can- 
not move further after their edges meet, the current of water is not allowed to go fur- 
‘ther in that direction, and therefore must pass over the gills and out through the fis- 
sures. These curtains in the mouth of the fish act precisely like the valves in the heart, — 
they freely permit a current of fluid in one direction, but not in the reverse. 
‘“¢The color of the Star Gazer is reddish brown, with deeper transverse bars. In the 
spring some of them are entirely black. It is so quick in its movements that it some- 
times takes five or ten minutes to catch one. If the fish is frightened out of its hiding 
place under a stone, and chased five or ten minutes before being caught, it will not be 
