CHAPTER XLIX 

 ORDER OF THE SPINY-FINNED FISHES 



ACANTHOPTERI 



EVEN of forms classed as North American, this gigantic 

 and rather unwieldy Order contains 45 Families and 483 

 species. Fortunately the groups which are of general interest 

 are sufficiently limited in number that it is possible to place 

 representatives of them before the reader. 



THE BASSES AND SUN FISHES 



Cen-trar' chi-dae 



The Bass and Sunfish Family enjoys, on the whole, the 

 widest popularity of all the finny Families of North America. 

 With due respect to the justly distinguished Trout Family, 

 I believe its members are known personally to a much smaller 

 number of people than those of the Bass Family. The reason 

 is that the latter are abundant in the most densely populated 

 portions of the United States, while the human neighbors of 

 the trout are comparatively few. 



This Family (of thirty species) leads from the narrow- 

 bodied and athletic black bass, by regular gradations in 

 breadth through the rock bass, calico bass, and their allies 

 down to the little gem-like sunfish, with the extreme width 

 of body and the limit of smallness and timidity. The black 



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