' /ti. - ' '^u?l *■ :7. i t ■ v » r i- ■ . . - u'i. 1 , \ '. I S I ! f • t ' ■ I ■ • : ■ > .' t \. ,. > ' ./. ". . /. > if. 



43 



THE STRIPED BASS. 



Roccus lineatus. 



The stately Bass, old Neptune's fleeting Post 

 That tides it out and in from sea to coast. 



Wood, New England's Prospect: 1634. 



T> Y the Greeks, it was so highly esteemed that Archetratus termed it, or 

 -^one of the two other closely allied species taken near Miletus, " the off- 

 spring of the gods:" So writes Gunther, concerning the Bass of Europe, 

 the Aaj3pa£ and the Lupus of classical literature, which ascended the Ti- 

 ber, and entered the Acherusian marshes, and gladdened the palates of 

 the gourmets of Rome and Athens. 



The European Bass, Roccus labrax* is found from the Mediterranean, 

 to Tromsoe in Norway ; the American species ranges from the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. The two species are similar in form, 

 but very unlike in color; ours being conspicuously striped, while that of 

 Europe is silvery grey. The American form is the largest, most active, 

 and on account of its greater abundance, by far the more important. 



In the North it is called the "Striped Bass," in the South the "Rock 

 Fish," or the "Rock." The neutral territory where both these names are 

 in use appears to be New Jersey. The fisherman of the Delaware use the 

 latter name, those of the sea-coast the former. Large sea-going individ- 

 uals are sometimes known in New England by the names "Squid-hound" 



*Bass, Sea-Perch, White Salmon, Salmon Dace and Savin, in England, Gape-month in Scotland, 

 Draenog in Wales, ( This means hedgehog. Compare with the Breton Dreinee.) Bar and Bars in France, Van 

 and Dreinee in Brittany, See-Barsch in Germany, Hav-Bars and Bars in Denmark, Spinola, Spigola , Bran- 

 tine, Varola, Baciola, Ragtts and Labrace in Italy, Lnben in Croatia, (compare Latin Lupus.) 



