12 NEW- YORK FAUNA. 



This pigmy bass is commonly known with us under the name of White Perch. I have 

 the authority of Dr. Mitchill himself for the identity of the species. There are, however, 

 several grave errors in his description, some of which he assured me were typographical. 

 I am inclined to suspect that it has been confounded by preceding writers with the mucronatus 

 just described. Cuvier's figure of this last named species agrees better with the pallidus, 

 with the exception of the first ray of the second dorsal, which is represented as short ; while 

 the description, " L'epine de sa seconde dorsale est presque aussi longue que le premier rayon 

 " mou qui la suit," corresponds entirely with the characters of the White Perch. There 

 are other discrepancies, such as the want of cilias or dentations to the scales, which scarcely 

 apply to either species. Like the preceding species, it inhabits salt and brackish waters ; but 

 as far as my observations have extended, is invariably a smaller species, being in fact a 

 diminutive fish, and rarely brought to market for food. It occurs only in the spring, while 

 the Ruddy Bass, or Salt-water Perch as it is sometimes called, is very robust, and is common 

 throughout autumn and winter. The Little White Bass, or White Perch, may be readily 

 distinguished from the other by its light color, small size, and very compressed body. 



THE SMALL BLACK BASS. 



Labrax nigricans, 

 plate l. fig. 160. — (state collection.) 



Characteristics. Dark colored, with a tinge of yellowish. First dorsal more elevated than 

 the second. Length, 6-10 inches. 



Description. Body compressed ; back elevated. It has the general form of the Yellow 

 Perch, but the frontal outline is more abruptly descending. Scales subquadrate, rounded 

 behind, and minutely denticulated on their free margins (see figure). They extend over the 

 opercular bones and suborbital, rising upon the soft rays of the dorsal, anal and caudal fins ; 

 on the nape, they extend anterior to the eyes. Lateral line very distinct, and nearly concur- 

 rent with the dorsal outline, from which it is distant about one-third of the depth of the body. 

 Eyes very large, and near the facial outline. In a preserved specimen, a straight suture is 

 observed extending backwards from the eye towards the upper portion of the branchial aper- 

 ture. This is not visible, or but indistinctly, in the living individual. The upper portion "of 

 the orbit prominent. Nostrils double : the posterior obliquely oval, largest ; the anterior 

 round, and furnished with a valvular membrane. Preopercle with its angle rounded, and 

 strongly serrate on its horizontal and ascending margins. Opercle with a flat spine or point, 

 separated by an emargination from an indistinct point above it. On the posterior part of the 

 opercle, is a distinct vertical bony suture, near the ascending branch, and parallel with the 

 preopercle. A band of velvet-like teeth in the upper and lower jaws ; a semilunar patch of 

 teeth on the vomer ; a narrow band on the palatines, and a group of similar teeth on the 

 pharyngeals. Tongue broad, and punctate with black, with rounded patches of excessively 

 minute teeth on its sides and tip. The first branchial are pectinate. 



