THE BASS 67 
the East Anglian term for the common perch; for, as Pro- 
fessor Skeat has pointed out, the English fashion of slurring 
the r renders the presence of that consonant of uncertain 
significance except at the beginning of a syllable. 
In external form the bass, or sea-perch, differs from the 
river perch chiefly in having only nine spines in the dorsal 
fin instead of thirteen to fifteen, and in carrying teeth upon 
its tongue, whereas the tongue of the river perch is unarmed ; 
but its scheme of coloration is very different. The bass has 
discarded or concealed the parti-coloured attire which dis- 
tinguishes most of the perch clan, and has assumed a salmon- 
like livery, grey on the back and bright silver on the sides. 
This fish appears in shoals in the shallow seas and estuaries 
of Southern England and Ireland from about the middle of 
June to the middle of September, but in the more northern 
parts of the British seas, bass are seldom taken. One, how- 
ever, was killed on a salmon fly in the tidal water of the 
Arbort river, on the west coast of Inverness-shire, July 16th, 
1go1, by Mr. Alexander Grant.* 
The Greeks and Romans of classical times esteemed the 
bass very highly as a table fish, and those which entered the 
Tiber and gorged themselves with the refuse at the outfall 
of Cloaca maxima were esteemed the finest for this purpose. 
At the present day this fish has fallen out of repute as a 
delicacy, and even as food; few people, probably, being 
qualified to testify from experience as to its merits. 
Anglers who have encountered this voracious fish speak 
highly of its sporting qualities ; but opportunity seems to be 
Angling for €ven more fickle in its favours to bass-fishers than 
Bass. to others. Mr. Aflalo, in his recent work on 
Sea and Coast Fishing,t+ dilates enthusiastically upon them as 
the most sporting fish to be caught in salt or brackish water ; 
* Mr. Harvie Brown, in Annals of Scottish Natural History (No. 43, 
P- 155). 
Tt London: Grant Richards, rgor. 
