SOUTHERN INLAND FISHES. 373 



never seen more than one old one about a nest, yet we have fre- 

 quently found from forty to eighty eg-gs in a nest, and believe they 

 were deposited by the one female on guard. In an extensive low 

 swamp, where high land is scarce, one sometimes finds the ground 

 occupied by several nests within a few yards of each other. These 

 nests are all taken off in the winter by the overflow. When first 

 hatched the youngster is about four inches long, and will give bat- 

 tle upon the least provocation, and die game. Alligators are never 

 known to attack a person. When they are approached on land 

 they will blow themselves up as if their lungs extended to their 

 toes, and emit a most disagreeable odor; but if opportunity offers, 

 will retreat to the water. 



The soft shell turtle is indigenous to only the waters of the 

 South. Usual weight about ten pounds, though sometimes caught 

 that will weigh twenty. It is unsurpassed by any of its congeners, 

 and is the equal of the diamond-back terrapin of Maryland. It is 

 taken with line or cut bait. 



But as beavers, alligators, and turtles, are not fish, although 

 denizens of the waters, we will proceed to our enumeration : 



PERCID^. 



Trout ; lake trout ; chub ; black bass ; green perch. — Micropiertis sahnoides. 



This is the best and most common fish throughout the south, 

 and possesses all the game qualities of its cousin german, the 

 black bass proper, (M. nzgrzcans) which is also found in many of 

 its more northern waters, and which, having been referred to ex- 

 tensively elsev/here, needs no further mention here. Grystes sal- 

 moides, or the southern chub, is the most abundant fish in mill 

 ponds, and also frequents canals and quiet stretches of water in 

 rivers. It greatly abounds in the lakes, and is called the lake trout 

 — a gross misnomer, even greater than the name of chub. It is a 

 bass and very closely allied to the black bass of the Ohio, which 

 has been introduced into the Potomac. There are some slight but 

 very distinct organic differences, which while showing that both 

 are of the same genus, they differ in species. They bite and watch 

 their young alike ; but the chub likes still water, and is not averse 

 to mud, while the black bass prefers running water and rocky 



