82 FISHES AND FISHING IN SUNAPEE LAKE. 



SuNFisn {Lepomi.s auritus) . 



This is the fish commonly referred to at Sunapee Lake as "pumpkin 

 seed," and it seems to be very abundant, though not attaining so 

 large a size as it does in some waters. In its young stages it is to 

 some extent eaten by black bass and other fishes occurring in the 

 same localities with sunfish. In its adult size it is more or less destruc- 

 tive of other fishes, especially the young, occurring in the same localities, 

 but it is mamly an insect feeder, and for that reason does little harm. 



In some parts of the country large sunfish of this species are con- 

 sidered as food fish, but owing to their small size in Simapee Lake they 

 are not often used for that purpose. 



Throughout the summer and f aU hundreds of various sizes could be 

 seen about the steamer wharf at Blodgetts Landing, in company with 

 some small black bass. 



Pumpkin Se^d (Lepomis gihhosus) . 



The fish was not observed by the writer in any of the Sunapee 

 waters. It is included in the list on the authority of Hon. Nathaniel 

 Wentworth, who says it occurs in Sunapee Lake. 



This species is more properly the pumpkin seed than the preceding. 

 It may be distinguished from the other by its always shorter and 

 red-margined black gill flap, smaller mouth, and 4 rows of scales on 

 the cheeks instead of 7 as in the other. 



Black Bass {Micropterus dolomieu). 



The black bass is a member of the sunfish family to which the 

 previously mentioned sunfish and pumpkin seed belong. It is there- 

 fore not a bass. The only importance attached to this fact, so far 

 as Sunapee Lake and its fish and fishing are concerned, is that it 

 accordingly has not the habits of a bass. True basses are voracious, 

 marauding, devastating pirates. The white perch is one of them. 

 The black bass, however, is a comparatively inoffensive citizen. It 

 has its faults, and chief of these is that it sometimes, not infrequently, 

 eats other fishes, but as will appear from quotations given later in 

 this paper, this fault is sometimes a commendable one. The natural 

 range of this species is given in the books as "from Lake Champlam 

 to Manitoba and southward on both sides of the mountains from 

 James River to South Carolina and Arkansas." It is justly held in 

 high esteem by all anglers as a game fish and, with some exceptions, 

 as a food fish. 



Dr. James A. Henshall, the noted champion of the black bass, says 

 of it: 



The black bass is eminently an American fish; he has the faculty of asserting him- 

 self and of making himself completely at home wherever placed. He is plucky, game, 



