SPOT-TAIL BASS. Corvina ocelata, or "Labrax bimaculatus," the two- 

 spotted bass. 



CHAPTER II. 

 SECTION FIRST. 



THIS fish is particularly described by our learned corre- 

 spondent, C ; therefore I have only to state that the en- 

 graver cut out one of the spiked dorsals, as there should be 

 eight ; though the fish after which I made the drawing from 

 still-life had a lunated instead of a square tail. Otherwise, 

 it was in all particulars like the bass described by C . 



Dorsal fins and caudal, black ; all other fins red ; dark gray 

 back and. sides; white abdomen ; steel-blue head and jaws, 

 covered with scales, and armed with sharp teeth ; scales rath- 

 er large, and the ends dark-colored. 



It will be observed that the head and mouth resemble our 

 kingfish, except wanting the barb under the lower mandi- 

 ble ; it is therefore necessary to fish with a striped bass hook, 

 about No. 7, made of heavy steel wire and well tempered. 

 Those of the Virginia shape, with short bend, or like the Isl- 

 and Club hooks, would be preferred. Fish with strong bass 

 tackle, the rod about nine feet long, two joints beside a stiff 

 lancewood top, with agate or bell-metal tip. A reel large 

 enough to carry two hundred yards of thirteen-strands linen 

 line. A bright bait the side of a scup or shedder-crab are 

 the most attractive. The habits of the two-spotted bass, or 

 spot-tail, are quite similar to those of the striped bass of 

 Northern waters, seeking at the first turn of flood -tide 

 along the shallows and weedy shores for crustacea and 



