268 FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



The general area of the species extends from Lake Huron, 

 the upper St. Lawrence, and the Red River of the North, south- 

 ward to Florida, Texas, and northern Mexico. Its western limit 

 is in eastern Nebraska and the Dakotas, and within these bound- 

 aries it is everywhere common in rivers, lakes, and bayous, 

 generally preferring still or sluggish waters. 



The food of this bass as shown by an examination of four- 

 teen adults, was mainly fishes and crawfishes, the former con- 

 sisting largely of minnows, but containing likewise catfish, 

 gizzard-shad, and spiny-finned species. The crawfish amounted 

 to only 7 per cent., and the insect food to mere traces. 



The color, and other difierential characters of this and the 

 last species have been in as much question among angling 

 enthusiasts as its scientific nomenclature among systematic 

 ichthyologists. Named by Lacepede " Labrus salmoides,'' and 

 frequently called " trout" in the South, it had the misfortune 

 to be called " black" (Huro nigricans) by Cuvier and Valen- 

 ciennes, and "pale" (Lepomis pallida) by Rafinesque, all within 

 the space of a few years at the beginning of the last century. 

 As a matter of fact, both species are variable in color, in the 

 words of Dr. Henshall, "running through all the shades of slate, 

 green, olive and yellow, to almost white." To any one who is 

 acquainted well enough with their anatomical differences to 

 distinguish them certainly without reference to color it will soon 

 be evident that their variability in color leaves little chance for 

 debate as to "which is the black bass and which the green bass, ,! 

 such discussions being idle except for a possible small local value. 



Consistently with its habit of living in sluggish or still water, 

 this species is somewhat less active than the last. It will, how- 

 ever, leap five or six feet out of the water to escape a net, and is 

 for that reason called the "jumper" in some localities. It ranks 

 high as a game fish, although it is not so much sought by anglers 

 as its small-mouthed relative. It will take live minnows and 

 other live baits, as grasshoppers, frogs, and helgramites, and is 

 also caught by fly-fishing. It reaches a weight of 8 or 9 lb in 

 this latitude, 6 or 8 lb usually being the limit, and specimens 

 averaging rather below 4 lb. In the South the species grows 

 larger, reaching 12 to 14 lb (Henshall). 



Its breeding habits do not differ greatly from those of the 

 small-mouthed bass. Its nests* are built and protected by the 



* In the account of nesting and spawning habits we follow Reighard (Mich. Fish Coram. 

 Rep. 1903-04 Appendix). 



