18 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



coming modesty (for T do not wish to be thought presump- 

 tuous), and with feelings akin to regret — much like that of 

 tearing down an old homestead endeared by many tender 

 associations and fond remembrances, to make room for a 

 more substantial structure — but at the same time feeling 

 that I am doing an act that is simply right and just, I 

 feel constrained to make a radical change in the nomen- 

 clature of the Black Bass as it is at present understood 

 in America. 



But in order to arrive at a clear understanding of the 

 subject, I propose, in the first place, to present to the 

 angler, as well as to the student of ichthyology, all that is 

 really worth kni)wing of the scientific literature of the 

 Black Bass; in doing which it becomes a matter of neces- 

 sity, as well as of choice, to draw liberally upon the 

 writings of Professors Gill and Jordan. 



The following disquisitional resume is from Professor 

 Gill's admirable monograph, entitled, "On the Species of 

 the Genus Micropterus (Lac.) or Grystes (Auct.),"* and is 

 the most able, concise and original paper ever written upon 

 the subject ; and, so far as it goes, presents the whole 

 matter clearly and succinctly, and according to the views 

 of most of our best naturalists. 



The nomenclature of the species has become involved in much 

 doubt, and, if we may judge from the literature and the distinctions 

 insisted on by Prof. Agassiz and others,! at least four or five species 



■••■On the Species of the Genus Micropterus (Lac.) or Grystes (Auct.). 

 By Theodore Gill, of Washington, D. C. < Proceedings of the American 

 Association for tlie Advancement of Science, XXII, 1873, pp. B. 55-72. 



tin the nominal (1) "Ory.x^ra /fw«rt<«,v Aiiass.," it is said, " the scafcx n/ca 

 little smaller, hut of the same form as in (12) (i. salmoides ; the radiating strijo 

 arc perhaps less marked. They cover the opercular appai-atus and the clweka, 



