Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 381 



and fishing from a sail-boat, frequently take 200 or more Crappie 

 in a day, besides occasional pickerel, perch, and bass. Two men 

 fishing for pleasure, took, in June, 1882, in the course of 3 days, a 

 thousand crappies, weighing from 4 to 24 ounces each. Of course 

 any two men who can be satisfied to destroy fish in that way, and 

 who find pleasure in it, are game hogs of the most conscienceless 

 kind. 



Another correspondent of the same journal writes entertain- 

 ingly concerning Crappie fishing near St. Louis. "Our Crappie, 

 the greatest pan-fish of the West, is highly esteemed by us for 

 the table. We have seen a monster crappie this spring, weighing 

 over 3 pounds, taken at Murdock Club Lake, near St. Louis, on 

 the Illinois side. We consider one of 1^ to 2 pounds a large one. 

 They are taken about logs and fallen tree-tops, on the water's edge, 

 in our rivers and sloughs. They are greedy fellows, but as soon as 

 hooked, step right into the boat without a struggle for liberty. 



"A gentlemen of this place, a member of one of our old French 

 families, who turned the scale at about 300 pounds, was noted for 

 his success in crappie fishing. He would have his large flat towed 

 to a tree ; when tied to a limb, he would settle himself for the day, 

 on a pillow, placed in a large split-bottom chair. Hauling his 

 live-box and minnow^-pail alongside, he would bait 2 hooks attached 

 to a strong line, using a weak snell, so that in case the hook should 

 foul, he could break it loose. He used a float and short, stout 

 bamboo rod and, shaking the bushes a little, 'to stir up the fish', 

 would select an opening and carefully drop in the minnow, 2 feet 

 below the surface, pass the ends of the rods through rings in the 

 side of the boat, light his pipe, and wait for something to happen. 

 It was not long, and after the fun began, it was the same monot- 

 onous lifting out of fish, and dropping them into the live-box all 

 the day long, and was continued on the next, until he had brought 

 to creel over three hundred. 



"I have always associated in my mind the crappie, and the love 

 of ease and quiet of our old French inhabitants. Nothing could 

 more truly represent contentment and ease than the picture of this 

 simple-minded old gentlemen on his annual crappie fish at King's 

 Lake." 



Head 3; depth 2},; eye 4; D. V or VI, 15; A. VI, 18; scales 

 7-36 to 48-14, 4 or 5 rows on cheek ; body rather short, greatly com- 

 pressed ; head long, the profile strongly curved owing to the pro- 

 jecting snout, depressed occipital region, and very prominent 

 thickened antedorsal region ; mouth very wide. Color, silvery-olive, 

 mottled with dark green, the dark markings chiefly on the upper 



