The Bass and their Relatives 535 
the “perch” in Australian rivers. The most important mem- 
ber of these transitional types between perch and sea-bass is 
the striped bass, or rockfish (Roccus lineatus), of the Atlantic 
coast of the United States. This large fish, reaching in extreme 
cases a weight of 112 pounds, lives in shallow waters in the sea 
and ascends the rivers in spring to spawn. It is olivaceous in 
color, the sides golden silvery, with narrow black stripes. About 
1880 it was introduced by the United States Fish Commission 
into the Sacramento, where it is now very abundant and a 
fish of large commercial importance. To the angler the 
striped bass is always “a gallant fish and a bold biter,” and 
Genio Scott places it first among the game-fishes of America. 
The white bass (Roccus chrysops) is very similar to it, but 
shorter and more compressed, reaching a smaller size. This 
fish is abundant in the Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi 
as far south as Arkansas. 
The yellow bass (Morone interrupta), a coarser and more 
brassy fish, replaces it farther south. It is seldom seen above 
Cincinnati and St. Louis. The white perch (Morone amert- 
cana) is a little fish of the Atlantic seaboard, entering the sea, 
but running up all the rivers, remaining contentedly land- 
locked in ponds. It is one of the most characteristic fishes 
of the coast from Nova Scotia to Virginia. It is a good pan 
fish, takes the hook vigorously, and in a modest way deserves 
the good-will of the angler who cannot stray far into the moun- 
tains. Very close to these American bass is the bass, bars, or 
robalo, of southern Europe, Dicentrarchus labrax, a large olive- 
colored fish, excellent as food, living in the sea about the mouths 
of rivers. 
The Jewfishes.—In the warm seas are certain bass of immense 
size, reaching a length of six feet or more, and being robust 
in form, a weight of 500 or 600 pounds. These are dusky 
green in color, thick-headed, rough-scaled, with low fins, vora- 
cious disposition, and sluggish movements. In almost all 
parts of the world these great bass are called jewfish, but 
no reason for this name has ever been suggested. In 
habit and value the species are much alike, and the jewfish 
of California, Stereolepis gigas, the prize of the Santa Catalina 
anglers, may be taken as the type of them all. Closely related 
