scip:ntific history of the black bass. 37 



about 2!|. The :iiuil ruys in salmoides are usually 10 instead of 11 ; 

 the dorsal formula X, 1, 12, instead of X, I, 13. The scales are larger 

 in salmoides, there being about 70 in the lateral line instead of 77. 

 The coloration of salmoides is uniformly unlike that ol' achigan. The 

 lower part of the sides is marked by pretty regular lines of dark 

 olive-green spots along the series of scales. The lower fins are usu- 

 ally more or less red, and the black, yellow, and white coloration of 

 the caudal fin, so conspicuous in young specimens of the Northern 

 form — in the Western States, at least — is not noticeable in the South- 

 ern variety. 



And now, if we could feel perfectly confident and rea- 

 sonably sure that the premises adopted by our American 

 naturalists were correct, to wit : that Labrus salmoides La- 

 cepede, was the Jirst scientific description of the small- 

 mouthed Bass, we could then leave this subject here, with 

 the firm conviction that this matter was settled for all time, 

 and could thus feel assured of the ultimate and universal 

 adoption and perpetuity of the American nomenclature of 

 the Black Bass, viz : 3Iicropterus salmoides (Lacepede) 

 Gill, for the small-mouthed species, and Micropterus pallidus 

 (Rafinesque) Gill & Jordan, for the large-mouthed species. 

 In this event, I say, we could rest content; for, although 

 the generic appellation, and the specific title of the small- 

 mouthed Black Bass, as proposed, are misnomers (the 

 generic name is not very inappropriate, inasmuch as the 

 fins are really smaller than in other centrarchids, though 

 not in the sense intended by Lacepede ; and the specific 

 name, though not in any degree descriptive, was conferred 

 by reason of its being called " Trout" in its native waters), 

 they are the only names that could rightly be bestowed, 

 under the circumstances, and we could well afford to sub- 

 rait gracefully to wdiat could not be bettered, or helped. 



But now come our Gallic friends, MM. Vaillant and 



