138 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



and external eonforniution, of tlie two species, is at once 

 striking and characteristic. The hirge-monthed Bass is 

 thicker, especially tiirough the slioulders, deeper in the 

 body, with a more pendulous abdomen, and seems a 

 heavier fish for its length than the other species, convey- 

 ing the impression that it is the stronger and more power- 

 ful fish, as, indeed, it is; while the small-mouthed Bass, 

 owing to its trim, slender and more graceful shape, truly 

 convinces one that it is the more active and agile. 



The relative size of the scales is all important in the 

 diiterentiation of the two species. In the large-mouthed 

 Bass these are much larger, there being but from sixty- 

 five to seventy scales along the lateral line, running from 

 the head to the tail; while in the small-mouthed species 

 there are from seventy to eighty. Between the lateral line 

 and the base of the dorsal fintiiere are but eight horizontal 

 rows of scales in the large-mouthed Bass, while there are 

 eleven similar rows in the small-mouthed Bass. The scales 

 on the nape and breast in the large-mouthed species are 

 not much smaller than those of tlie sides; but in the 

 other species they are verij much smaller; and while the 

 scales on the cheeks and gill-covers of the large-mouthed 

 Bass are small, those of corresponding situations in the 

 small-mouthed Bass are quite minute, with a small por- 

 tion of the gill-covers (prcopcrcular limb) entirely bare. 



The size and shape of the fins also differ somewhat, 

 especially the dorsal, which in the small-mouthed Bass 

 has the rays of the spinous portion higher and more uni- 

 form in size, rendering this fin higher, not so arching, and 

 with a shallower notch tluin in the large-mouthed form. 



The differences, then, in tlie form, gape of mouth, and 

 size of scales and fins of the two species of Black Bass, 



