396 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



by the sudden approach of an enemy. It swims in schools and is often found in the 

 shelter of sunken logs and in the vicinity of large rocks. 



The spawning season begins in March and ends in July. The period of incuba- 

 tion lasts from 7 to 14 days. The eggs are bound together in bands or ribbons by 

 an adhesive substance. They adhere to stones on which they are deposited. The 

 parent fish build nests and protect the eggs and young. In the Delaware the 

 current is more rapid and the temperature lower than in the Susquehanna ; hence 

 the Bass spawn earlier in the latter than in the former. The spawning fish have 

 nearly all left their spawning beds in the Susquehanna early in July, but at this 

 time most of the nests in the Delaware are still full of eggs. By some writers it is 

 believed that the female prepares the nest before the male joins her. The males 

 fight for the possession of the female and are said to help the process of ejecting the 

 eggs by biting or pressing the belly of the female. After the eggs are deposited, 

 the female guards the nest from the attacks of the Crawfish and some other fishes. 

 The young are consumed by many birds and by frogs and snakes. Yet, notwith- 

 standing the numerous enemies of the Black Bass, its multiplication has been rapid 

 and enormous. 



The Small-mouthed Black Bass ceases to take food on the approach of cold 

 weather and remains nearly dormant through the winter, except in artificially 

 heated water. A number of the young of the year, received from James Annin, Jr., 

 of Caledonia, N. Y., October 6, 1896, scarcely fed at all in the following winter, 

 but when the spring was advanced they fed eagerly and grew rapidly. 



106. Large-mouthed Black Bass (Micropterus salmoides Lacepede). 



Huro nigricans DEK.AY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 15, pi. 69, fig. 224, 1842. 



Micropterus salmoides MEEK, Ann. N. Y. Ac. Sci., IV, 313, 1888; BEAN, Fishes Penna., 



118, pi. 32, fig. 66, 1893; Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., IX, 364, 1897; JORDAN & 



EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., I, 1012, 1896, pi. CLXIII, fig. 431, 1900; 



MEARNS, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., X, 320, 1898; EUGENE SMITH, Proc. Linn. Soc. 



N. Y. 1897, 36, 1898; BEAN, 52d Ann. Kept. N. Y. State Mus., 105, 1900. 



This species may best be distinguished from the Small-mouthed Black Bass by 

 the size of its mouth and the number of rows of scales above the lateral line. The 

 young of the Small-mouthed species, also, never have a dark, lateral band. 



Common names for this species are : Oswego Bass, River Bass, Green Bass, Moss 

 Bass, Bayou Bass, Trout, Jumper, Chub and Welshman. Throughout the north it 

 is generally known as Bass, in Virginia and North Carolina as Chub and in Florida 

 and west to Texas as Trout. 



