BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 75 



A glance at the above table will suffice to show that the fish fauna of 

 all the streams in- the region under consideration is essentially the 

 same. Indeed it appears to me that it would be somewhat hazardous 

 in the present state of our knowledge to say that any fish now known 

 from but one or two of these streams will not yet be found in all. 



All the species in the table except Morone interrupta, Minnilus Urus, 

 Amiiirus marmoratus and Amia calva, have been collected by myself 

 in the State of Mississippi. These species also doubtless occur in that 

 State. 



Butler University, Irvington, Ltd., July 20, 1882. 



STRIPED BASS IN 1'IAMiATA.Mi RIVER, VIRGINIA. 



By It. HEALY. 



[From a letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.] 



I see it stated in the New York Herald, under the heading "Sea-fish 

 culture," that the "eggs of the striped bass have been hatched in many 

 instances, but the place where they spawn in numbers sufficient to make 

 it profitable to seek them on their breeding-grounds, has never yet been 

 discovered." If this be true, probably I can give you a clew. 



The Piankatank River, upon which I live, is about 65 miles long. 

 About 30 of this is estuary. The remainder is a fresh-water stream, 

 about 25 or 30 feet wide, whieh makes its way, for 30 miles, through an 

 alluvial country, and for 15 miles of the lower part through a cypress 

 swamp. Tiie water is clear but dark colored, and the stream is 2 or 

 3 feet deep, with bars of white sand, and deeper holes where the 

 bottom is covered with leaves and fallen wood. Up this stream, as far 

 as I can remember, two kinds of rockfish have been caught; one a large 

 fish with the stripes upon the sides broken ; on the other the stripes 

 run from head to tail. The first we know as bass, the other as rock- 

 fish. These fish when full of roe are called green-roe rock. They come 

 up the river late in February and in March, and years ago were very 

 abundant. They are becoming scarce in consequence of the high price 

 of fish at the North, and the many devices to catch them, among others 

 that of an old fellow named Norton (since dead), who used to make a 

 coarse wattle across the stream with a large hole in it. At this he 

 would stand with a large hand-net, in the night, and whenever he felt a 

 fish, would raise it quickly and land the fish on shore. All these fish 

 had large green roes — very fine — finer than shad or herring. 



A friend of mine told me that one morning Norton brought him three 

 of these fish, and told him he had taken over a dozen during the night, 

 and would have taken more but that an immense fish had broken his 

 net. I have seen them taken in seines, but never with hook and line. 

 Those that bite at hooks have very small roes, yellowish-white, which 

 are called "he-roes." These fish are becoming scarce. Very few large 



