FAMILY PERCID — LABRAX. 9 
about the beginning of September. They keep between the outer bar and the beach, where 
they are caught by the seine in large quantities for the New-York and Philadelphia markets. 
From the same writer, we learn that they ascend rivers as far as the depth of water will per- 
mit, and lie among the bushes. Sometimes, from heavy rains, or the sudden melting of 
snow, the fish are forced from their abode back again to the salt water, and remain there until 
the freshet subsides, when they invariably redscend. They ascend high up the Hudson river, 
and have been taken under the Cohoes falls of the Mohawk. The larger individuals, called 
Green-heads, never ascend fresh-water streams. Along the coast, they enter creeks and inlets 
at night with the flood tide, in order to feed, and return with the ebb. Advantage is taken of 
this circumstance, by stretching a seine across the outlet, when great numbers are taken. 
As the weather grows colder, they penetrate into bays and ponds connected with the sea, 
where they imbed themselves in the mud. Near Sag-harbor, Suffolk county, I noticed one 
of these ponds, which was a source of great annual profit to the owner. 
This species, it will be noticed above, has had the fortune to receive many names. Dr. 
Mitchill, who was unacquainted with the labors of his predecessors, imposed upon this spe- 
cies, with characteristic simplicity, his own name. It is known under the various popular 
names of Striped and Streaked Bass, Rock-fish, and oftener Rock. 
Scheepff observes of this species, that “it is very common, and caught during the whole 
“year on the coast of New-York. They are brought into the market (dead) in great abun- 
“dance during the winter.” ‘There are other fish in the same waters, which in shape, size 
“and color, completely resemble the striped bass, except that they have no lateral stripes 
“whatever. It is supposed that they are the same, and that they do not, until they are two 
“or three years old, take those stripes which sufficiently distinguish them from all others. 
“The linnean characters of Perca aspera apply to the above named fish, but it is clearly a 
“new species.” It is probable, that in the latter paragraph, Scheepff alludes to some species 
of Pogonias. 
From the avidity with which the striped bass seizes a hook baited with soft crab, clams, 
and the smaller crustacea, it is probable that they form no inconsiderable portion of its food. 
THE RUDDY BASS. 
LABRAX RUFUS. 
PLATE Ill. FIG. 7.— (STATE COLLECTION.) 
Perca, River Perch at New-York. Scuaprr, Beobachtungen, &c. 1788, p. 159. 
Morone rufa. Mircutxu, Report in part, p. 18. 
Bodianus rufus. Ip. Phil. Tr. Vol. 1, p. 420. 
Le petit Bar d' Amérique, Labrax mucronatus. Cuv. et Vat. Hist. Poiss. Vol. 2, p. 86, pl. 12. 
Labrax mucronatus. STORER, Massachusetts Report, p. 8. 
Characteristics. Dark bluish above, with a reddish hue over the whole ‘body, fading into a 
reddish on the sides ; no lateral stripes. Length eight to ten inches. 
Fauna — Parr 4, Q 
