OF NATURAL HISTORY OF CABADA 45 



other provincial waters, where lack of shade, owing to the disap- 

 pearance of the forest has rendered them less suitable to the native 

 brook trout. The rainbow thrives best in warmer water than that 

 preferred by the last mentioned species. Where abundance of 

 food exists it is of verj- rapid growth and attains a weight of six to 

 eight pounds. An erroneous impression long prevailed in the west 

 that the Rainbow was simply the undeveloped young of the steel- 

 head of the Pacific slope. TTie Rainbow is a hard fighter when 

 hooked and affords good sport to the angler. 



The Black Bass 



Tlie Black Bass has been described by Dr. Henshall "as the 

 gamest fish that swims," a claim which is not always admitted by 

 those who have formed the acquaintance of the salmon, the oua- 

 naniche and the trout in northern Canadian waters. The name 

 Micropteriis from the Greek micros, small, and pteron, fin, was 

 given to this fish by Lacepede through a curious misapprehension; 

 the dorsal fin in the tj-pical specimen sent him having been injured, 

 its posterior rays detached and bitten off short, were taken bj- him 

 for a separate fin. The two species of North American bass, 

 Micropterous dolomieu or the small-mouthed black bass, and 

 Micropterous sahnoides, the large-mouthed black bass, were intro- 

 duced to Europe several years ago. In the large-mouth the upper 

 jaw extends far behind the eyes, in the other to a point below it. 

 The large-mouth has from sixty-five to seventy rows of scales 

 between the gill-opening and the base of the tail, instead of seventy- 

 two or more while on the cheek there are about ten oblique rows 

 instead of seventeen. There are other distinctions, such as the 

 absence in the large-mouth of scales on the bases of the dorsal and 

 anal fins, the smaller number of rays in the pectoral fins (there 

 being thirteen or fourteen instead of sixteen or seventeen), and 

 the lesser height of the spinous dorsal. Numerous as have been 

 the zoological names, they are outnumbered by the popular names 

 still in use in different localities. Father Charlevoix, the Jesuit 

 missionary who explored Canada in 1721, mentions a fish called 

 "Achigan", which is thought to have been the large-mouth. An 

 earlier allusion to this species, which in the Southern States is still 

 called "Trout", occurs in the writings of Rene de Laudonniere, 

 who describes the incidents of the first Huguenot expedition to 

 Florida in 1652, under the command of Jean Ribault. The large- 

 mouth is known in the Great Lake region, especially in Northern 

 New York, as the "Oswego Bass". ITiis name should not be con- 

 founded with "Otsego Bass", a local name for the common white- 

 fish. In Kentucky it is called "Jumper"; in Indiana, "Moss 

 Bass"; in the Southern States, generally, "Trout", though on the 

 Tar River of North Carolina it is called "Chub," and on the Neuse 

 "Welshman." The Small-mouth shares with the Large-mouth in 

 the Southern States the names "Jumper", "Perch", and "Trout", 

 and in Alabama, according to Professor Jordan, it is called the 

 "Mountain Trout". Both species are very widely distributed over 

 the Atlantic slope of the continent east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 and their range is probably much wider than is now supposed, 

 for many of our far northern waters are unexplored. The 



