SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 247 



Both species of black bass are remarkably zealous in the breeding habits. 

 The fish, which have been in schools through the winter, become paired in early 

 spring and begin the preparation of the nest. The nest is located in compara- 

 tively shallow water and usually consists of fine gravel, brushed into a circular 

 mass 1.5 to 2 feet in diameter; sometimes the nest is simply a rounded area on a 

 gravel, clay, or mud bottom from which all foreign material is removed by 

 the parent fish. When the eggs are deposited, they become attached to the 

 bottom, and are thenceforth continually guarded by one or both parents, while 

 the water over the nest is kept agitated by a gentle motion of the fins. Fish and 

 other intruders are attacked and driven away from the vicinity of the nest. 

 From 2,000 to upwards of 10,000 eggs are deposited by one fish, and the hatching 

 period is from 1 to 3 weeks. When the young emerge, they remain in the nest 

 for several days while the yolk-sac is being absorbed, and then they rise in a 

 school and hover over the nest for several days more before scattering. During 

 this time the parents continue their guardianship, circling about the nest and 

 keeping all enemies away and at the same time preventing the fry from wandering 

 away. Finally, the young must separate in order to obtain food, and, having 

 been driven among the dense vegetation or in shoal water for protection, they 

 are deserted by theu- parents. 



The food of the young fish consists of minute animals — Crustacea, insects, 

 etc. At a very early period, however, they begin to prey on then* smaller 

 brothers, and this cannibalism continues after they become adults. The larger 

 fish are very voracious and aggressive feeders, taking all kinds of fish as well as 

 small mammals, frogs, tadpoles, snakes, worms, insects, and also vegetable matter. 



Under favorable conditions, the young bass reach a length of 6 to 8 inches in 

 a year, and sexual maturity in reached when 2 years old. 



As a market fish the large-mouth black bass is more important in North Caro- 

 lina than in any other state. In 1890 the catch aggregated 407,530 pounds, 

 valued at $20,492. In 1897 the output increased to 535,340 pounds, worth 

 $33,611; and in 1902 it rose to 632,675 pounds, which sold for $58,013. Currituck 

 Sound produces about three-fourths of the total yield in the state. 



Family PERCID^. The Perches. 



A numerous family of fresh- water fishes, chiefly represented in eastern North 

 America and Europe; most of them very small species kno\Mi as darters, which 

 are peculiar to America. The principal family characters are an elongate body, 

 compressed or not; medium sized head; terminal or slightly inferior mouth of 

 small or large size; premaxillaries protractile or not, maxillaries without distinct 

 supplemental bone; villiform teeth in bands on jaws, vomer, and palatines, a 

 few canine teeth in some species, teeth occasionally absent from vomer and 

 palatines; sharp teeth on the lower pharyngeals; branchiostegals 6 or 7; gill- 

 arches 4; gill-rakers long, slender, and dentate; gill-membranes free from 

 isthmus and either connected or separate; pseudobranchiae small or wanting; 



