NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 213 



Park, in the same way that they were taken from the Ohio 

 to Cumberland. A prohibition to catching them for a few 

 years would make them abundant, and afford angling 

 where there is none at present. 



The southern habitat of this bass makes it more sus- 

 ceptible of naturalization in this and states south of us, 

 than the northern species would likely prove. They have 

 been taken from the James river and naturalized in mill- 

 ponds in the neighborhood of Fredericksburg and Warren- 

 ton, Va. In open, unshaded mill-ponds, they assume a 

 brighter vesture than their ancestors had at the time of 

 transplanting them. I have seen fish of four pounds 

 taken that were quite silvery on their sides. 



The small yellow-bellied bass, and the sun-fish (Pomotis 

 vulgaris), should be introduced into ponds inhabited by the 

 larger fresh -water bass, as they furnish an infinite source 

 of amusement to juvenile anglers, and are well worthy of 

 the frying-pan after the month of June. No species 

 of bass, or of the perch family, however, should be put 

 into waters where the more valuable species, as trout, 

 white-fish, and salmon, are intended to be cultivated. The 

 smaller perches are as destructive of the ova and fry of 

 trout as the larger bass would doubtless prove to the young 

 of white-fish and salmon. 



SILURID.E. 



This family includes the different catfishes, or bullpouts, 

 as they are termed in the Eastern States. The larger 

 species found in the western rivers grow to the size of a 



