124 BASS FISIIIXG OX SPRUCE CREEK. 



usual bait for all fishes iu this region. Sailed on four 

 miles further, when the banks began to be higher, and 

 wooded, and the water grew fresh, when I put out a 

 trolling line with mullet bait, and caught a red fish or 

 channel bass of five pounds, and two salt-water trout of 

 two pounds each (Corvina ocellata and Otolitus Caroli- 

 nensis). Here on the east side of the creek we found a 

 bluff of coquina rock, some fifty feet high, covered with 

 forest trees, and with its sides washed by water into 

 curious forms. The river at its base is very deep, and is 

 said to contain large fish, especially snappers and 

 groupers. About a mile above this bluff, having put 

 out a second line with a spoon, I took with it my first 

 black bass ; it was of about two pounds weight, and made 

 the leaps characteristic of the species. Next I got a red- 

 fish of about the same size. I observe these fish caught 

 in fresh water are higher colored than those of salt 

 water, the back being of a rich dark brown, and the 

 sides of bright copper color. The salt-water trout taken 

 here are also of deeper colors, with larger spots than 

 those taken in the salt water. Three miles further, rain 

 coming on, we stopped and camped, about 4 p. M., at a 

 bluff on the west side, where the King s road, one hun 

 dred years ago, ran from St. Augustine down the coast. 

 After the shower we rowed up the river a mile, and got 

 half a dozen more black bass, and lost several by their 

 habit of shaking out the hook as they leap. I got two 

 dogfish (Amia calva), a western acquaintance, and not a 

 valued one, as this fish, though interesting to naturalists 

 from being the only representative of an old world 

 family, is worthless as food, and makes himself so odious 

 by cutting lines and breaking hooks, that the angler 

 regrets that it should have survived its kindred. 



