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, southward to 

 Florida, Texas, and northern Mexico. Its western limit is in eastern 

 Nebraska and the Dakotas, and within these boundaries it is every- 

 where common in rivers, lakes, and bayous, generally preferring 

 still or sluggish waters. 



The food of this bass as shown by an examination of fourteen 

 adults, was mainly fishes and crawfishes, the former consisting 

 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 differential 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 nigri- 

 cans) by Cuvier and Valenciennes, 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 distin- 

 guish them certainly without reference to color it will soon be evi- 

 dent that their variability in color leaves little chance for debate as 

 to "which is the black bass and which the green bass," such discus- 

 sions 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, however, 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-fish- 

 ing. It reaches a weight of 8 or 9 lb in this latitude, 6 or 8 lb usu- 

 ally being the limit, and specimens averaging rather below 4 lb. 

 In the South the species grows larger, reaching 12 to 14 lb (Hen- 

 shall). 



Its breeding habits do not differ greatly from those of the small- 

 mouthed bass. Its nests* are built and protected by the males, 

 and are usually placed among fallen leaves or fibrous rootlets, or, 



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

 Fish Comm. Rep., 1903-04, Appendix). 



