112 FISHES OF THE EAST ATLANTIC COAST. 



scrub, which I found very ready to steal any fish that I left exposed ; 

 and once I found a couple of marsh ponies devouring my bass. In 

 this region man, beast and bird all live on the fruit of the sea, and 

 there is enough for all those destructive engines, the pound nets 

 and the mile long seines, not having been introduced. 



The red bass spawns in August and September in the inlets and 

 bays, as I am informed by Florida fishermen, and deposits a large 

 amount of eggs, making it a prolific species. It is a roving fish, and 

 must be sought for among its haunts, which are various ; deep chan 

 nels, mud flats, oyster beds, and along the marshy shores, all of 

 t?M*h it yit.ts at different times of tide. 



[Since writing the above, I have received a copy of Jordan and Gilbert's " Sy 

 nopsis of the Fishes of North America," from which I take the following descrip- 

 tion of the above species :] 



Scicena ocellata Gthr. Channel bass red bass, Grayish silvery, iridescent ; 

 scales with dark spots forming faint irregular undulating stripes ; upper part of 

 base of caudal with an oval black spot as large as the eye, bordered by white or 

 orange; this spot is often duplicated.* Body rather elongate, not much elevated, 

 compressed behind, an almost even curve from snout to base of dorsal; preopercle 

 distinctly serrate ; eye large ; one ,and a-half in snout ; five and a-half in 

 head; gill rakers short and thick ; mouth large ; maxillary nearly reaching the 

 posterior margin of the orbit ; caudal truncate ; second and spine rather strong, 

 two-thirds as long as first ray ; pectoral fins very short, not reaching half-way to 

 anal ; lower pharyngeals narrow, with conical teeth. Head three and a-third ; 

 depth three and a half. D.X.I. 25 ; A.H. 8. Lat. . 50. Cape Cod to Mexico. 

 Common Southward. 



