. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. CHAPTER L THE ORDER OF SUCKERS, CARP, AND MINNOWS PLECTOSPnXD VLI THE SUCKER FAMILY. C at-os-tom' i-dae- This huge Order contains 60 genera and 311 species, divided into 4 FamiUes. Of these Families, the Sucker Family is the most impor- tant. It contains about 70 species, all of which save two are habitants of North America. Be- sides the Suckers themselves the Family includes the lauffalo fish, the red-horse and fresh-water "; These fishes have the mouth p
. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. CHAPTER L THE ORDER OF SUCKERS, CARP, AND MINNOWS PLECTOSPnXD VLI THE SUCKER FAMILY. C at-os-tom' i-dae- This huge Order contains 60 genera and 311 species, divided into 4 FamiUes. Of these Families, the Sucker Family is the most impor- tant. It contains about 70 species, all of which save two are habitants of North America. Be- sides the Suckers themselves the Family includes the lauffalo fish, the red-horse and fresh-water "; These fishes have the mouth placed underneath the head, and fitted with very fleshj^, tubular lips, well adapted for sucking food from the bottom. They have been specially formed to live upon mud bottoms, and in murky water,—. THE COMMON SUCKER. precisely the conditions that high-class fishes abhor. There are times when a sucker (or a carp) seems like a good fish for the table; and that is when one is very fish-hungry, and there is no other kind of fish to be had. To my mind, the flavor of the flesh is either barely tolerable, or verging closely upon disagreeable. The very numerous and whollj^ unnecessary bones seem lilve a positive affront. Although these fishes are seldom eaten by choice, by the landlocked dwellers in the interior of our great continent, to whom clear streams and good fishes are only long-distance memories, the sucker, carp and bull-head are eaten with real relish, and a feeling of thankfulness that they are no worse. And after all, men who can eat musky S(|uirrels, and call them "game," ought to be pleased with suckers and carp. The Common Sucker,' Brook, or White Sucker, is (lualified to represent a large section of this Family. In the home of this fish, ac- quaintance with it nearly always begins in the month of June, when, if ever, come perfect days, and the annual spring " run " of Suckers, up river and creek to their spawning beds, brings them prominently into
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