HABITS AND HAUNTS. 243 



which, at the end of a hundred yards of line, they afford great 

 sport, being vigorous, fierce, and active, not succumbing until 

 after a long and violent conflict with their captors. 



In winter, when the weather becomes cold and stormy, they 

 again enter the estuaries of rivers, and imbed themselves in the 

 mud of the brackish bays and lagoons, which possess the 

 advantage of being calm and undisturbed by the tempests 

 which vex the open sea. 



They attain to a very great size, even, I believe, to seventy or 

 eighty pounds' weight, though I have never myself seen one of 

 above forty-three; the smaller-sized fish, of seven or eight 

 pounds, are, however, by far the most delicate, and I think those 

 not exceeding fifteen pounds give the best sport to the angler. 



In colour, the Striped Bass is bluish brown above, silvery on 

 the sides and beneath. Along each side are from seven to nine 

 equidistant dark parallel stripes, the upper series terminating 

 at the base of the caudal, and the lower above the anal fin. 

 These lines are occasionally indistinct, sometimes interrupted, 

 and more rarely each alternately a continuous stripe, and a row 

 of abbreviated lines or dots ; this appears to be the form which 

 Dr. Richardson has designated as the Bar-Fish of the St. 

 Lawrence. 



The body is cylindrical and tapering ; head and body covered 

 with large adhesive scales. Lateral line obvious, running 

 through the fourth stripe, and nearly straight. Head bluntly 

 pointed ; eyes large ; nostrils double ; gill-openings large ; 

 lower jaw the longest; teeth numerous on the maxillaries, 

 palatine bone and tongue ; operculum armed with two spines on 

 its lower margin, the pre -operculum finely dentated. 



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