GENERAL AND SPECIFIC FEATURES. 141 



hooks a large-mouthcd Bass weighing four or five pounds, 

 and is surprised, probably, that it " fights " no harder or 

 perhaps not so hard as the smaller fish — in fact, seems 

 "logy"; he, therefore, reiterates the cry that the small- 

 mouthed Bass is the gamest fish. 



But, now, if he next succeeds in hooking a large- 

 mouthed Bass of the same size as the first one caught, he 

 is certain that he is playing a small-mouthed Bass until it 

 is landed, when to his astonishment it proves to be a large- 

 mouthed Bass; he merely says, "he fought well for one of 

 his kind," still basing his opinion of the fighting qualities 

 of the two species upon the first two caught. 



Perhaps his next catch may be a small-mouthed Bass of 

 four pounds, and which, though twice the weight of the 

 large-mouthed Bass just landed, does not offer any greater 

 resistance, and he sets it down in his mind as a large- 

 mouthed Bass; imagine the angler's surprise, then, upon 

 taking it into the landing net, to find it a small-mouthed 

 Bass, and one which, from its large size and the angler's 

 preconceived opinion of this species sliould have fought 

 like a Trojan. 



Now, one would think that the angler would be some- 

 what staggered in his former belief; but no, he is equal to 

 the occasion, and in compliance with the popular idea, he 

 merely suggests that " lie is out of condition, somehow," or 

 " Avas hooked so as to drown him early in the struggle;" 

 and so, as his largest fish will necessarily be big-mouthed, 

 and because they do not fight in proportion to their size, 

 they are set down as lacking in game qualities — of course, 

 leaving the largest small-mouthed Bass out of the calcula- 

 tion. 



Gentle reader, this is not a case of special pleading, nor 



