20 OLD BLACK BASS 



marked or distinguished from the other, 

 there was none. They were a single family, 

 and their home was the common water. 



Yet even in this early period some mys- 

 terious selective agency seemed interfering 

 with life. Without apparent cause, many 

 turned their bellies up and died. They rose 

 to the top and floated there, tiny white 

 bodies an inch long, with big heads and 

 slight crimson slits at the under gills. Na- 

 ture had rejected these as unfit. 



Others fared differently. When the lake 

 was unusually rough and the waves swept 

 shoreward, they were carried to the land. 

 They could not stem the inward current; 

 and once cast ashore they could not flap back 

 down. They were accordingly left to die, 

 far up on the dry. It was the price nature 

 exacted for their weakness. 



Twice havoc was wrought in another and 

 more tragic manner. On a memorable 

 afternoon a great black shape slipped 

 through the water and bore down on the 

 school. He swam aggressively, and struck 

 with the speed of wind. When his great 

 jaws closed five of the little school slid down 

 his wide gullet. 



