42 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



above. The small-mouthed Bass had a somewhat limited 

 range in comparison, not extending east or south beyond 

 the Alleghany mountains, though occurring every-where 

 else with the large-mouthed sj)ecies. 



At the present day, the habitat of the Black Bass has 

 been extended by transportation, and by means of artificial 

 canals, so that it may be said to inhabit every state of the 

 Union. It has also been successfully introduced into Eng- 

 land, Scotland and Germany, thus occupying a wider range 

 than any fresh-water fish in the world. 



The fact that the original habitat of the Black Bass does 

 not embrace New England and the Pacific slope is not re- 

 markable, for the characteristically American forms of 

 fishes, as has been observed by Professor Jordan, are, gen- 

 erally speaking, rare or absent in the waters of these sec- 

 tions. This fact was noticed by Professor Louis Agassiz, 

 who called New England " a zoological island,'' on account 

 of its faunal peculiarities as compared with the rest of the 

 United States. Thus, of more than a hundred genera of 

 fresh-water fishes now known to occur in the waters east of 

 the Mississippi river, only about one- fourth occur in New 

 England, and of these all except a half-dozen genera are 

 represented by but a single species each ; and not more 

 than thirty-five genera occur in the waters of the Pacific 

 slope. Almost any stream of any extent of the Ohio or 

 Mississippi basins will furnish double the number of genera 

 and species as the entire waters of either of the above- 

 named sections. Thus, as Professor Jordan states, "In the 

 little White river, at Indianapolis, seventy species, repre- 

 senting forty- eight genera, are known to occur — twice as 

 many as inhabit all the rivers of New England." 



The distribution of the Black Bass does not seem to be 



