THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 323 



The yellow perch, Perca flavescejis, does not appear to occur at Bees- 

 ley's Point. 



3. CeiVTropristes nigricans, Cuv. and Val. 



Blade Bass — Sea- Bass. 



Ccntroprlstes nigricans, Cuv. and Val. Hist. Nat. Poiss. Ill, 14. 

 — Storer's Rep. 9. — DeKay, New York Fauna, Fishes, 25, plate 

 ii., fig. 5. 



Like the porgee and several other species, the sea-bass or black 

 fish, taken in Great Egg harbor, are of diminutive size, compared with 

 those caught some distance out at sea. I do not remember any exceed- 

 ing 20 ounces in weight, while most of them were not above half that 

 size. They were seldom taken in large numbers, and in fact were 

 rather difficult to catch at all, owing to their habit of nibbling at the 

 bait without swallowing the hook. A very small hook, with a bait of 

 corresponding proportions, was found to furnish the best mode of cap- 

 turing them. Where they abounded, however, they generally put a 

 stop to any successful fishing. 



The black fish appears to be a summer visitor in Egg harbor, as I 

 could not learn of its capture in winter. They were generally to be 

 found off steep bars near the channels, very rarely near the shore. A 

 few young ones, about an inch long, were captured at Corson's Inlet. 



The black fish, as an article of food, may be reckoned among the 

 best of the fishes of the coast. The meat is firm and very white, and 

 the comparative absence of bones renders it possible to eat those of 

 quite a small size. 



Few authors, in their description of this fish, mention the broad, ver- 

 tical, dark bands so conspicuous in the fish when first caught. 



Color of young specimens. — Each scale on the body with a yellowish 

 green ©r greenish white centre, and a border of darker. The sides, 

 between the head and tail, crossed by five or six broad vertical bars of 

 blackish, (constituted by the above mentioned borders,) not, however, 

 obliterating the lighter centres ; the borders of the scales between these 

 bars are olivaceous. Head dark olive, the centres of the scales, the 

 inferior border of the orbit, and several lines radiating from the eye 

 towards the snout, rich green. Lower jaw blue, the extreme tips 

 olive ; isthmus inside the mouth and gill-covers, with the branchial 

 arches, yellow, branchioslegal membrane brown. D. with the membrane 

 olive green, brightest towards the edge ; between each two adjacent 

 rays of the dorsal are transverse bars of bluish white, and a larger 

 number in the soft portion of this fin. These bars are slightly oblique 

 to the rays, or, when the fin is erect, nearly parallel to tlie dorsal out- 

 line. Extreme margin of D. greenish white, with a narrow border of 

 black on the soft portion ; C. A. V. with membranes dark olive at base, 

 then greenish white, and margined with black, the dark portions occa- 

 sionally relieved by lighter patches of whitish or olivaceous, especiall}' 

 along the rays. P. olive green. Length 8 inches. August. 



