PERCID^E. 53 



ACAINTHOPTERYGII. PERCID^E. 



SOUTHERN SEA FISHES. 



IT is a source of much regret and disappointment to me that a num- 

 ber of specimens, which I was promised from Charleston, have not 

 come to hand in season for this edition ; I relied on them wherefrom 

 to draw figures and compile descriptions of several, to me, new genera, 

 which I can now only name by their provincial appellations, which, 

 being incorrect and local, are not to be found in the books. 



The principal of these are the Cavalle, and Horse Cavalle, two fish 

 of the Percoid family, strongly spined, which are said to be bold 

 biters, and the former a very fine fish. Besides these, there is the 

 Southern Black Fish, entirely different from the Tautog, or Northern 

 Black Fish, and having a much larger mouth; several varieties of 

 Mullet, and the far-famed Pompano of Florida, a fish of the Mack- 

 arel family. 



Of late years, the Tautog and Boston Bay Whiting have been intro- 

 duced into the Bay of Charleston, and are said to be greatly thriving 

 and becoming abundant. 



None of these fish, as I am informed by my friend Mr. King, of 

 Charleston, South Carolina, the keenest fisherman of those waters, are 

 ever taken except with the hand-line, with a heavy sinker and clam 

 bait, the rod and reel being ignored and voted useless by the anglers 

 in the deep-sea line. 



I trust, at some future period, to procure more and authentic infor- 

 mation touching these fishes ; but in lack of certain and positive infor- 

 mation, I prefer silence to either theory or error. 



