46 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



in the perch ; the shape of the fish something like the 

 bream, or between bream and perch, and tail slightly 

 forked. The large -mouthed black bass (micropterus 

 salmoides) differs principally from the other small-mouthed 

 variety in having the snout more elongated, not so shapely, 

 gill covers extending further back, under jaw rather pro- 

 truding, the mouth considerably larger, and a heavier fish 

 altogether. It is a well-known and widely-distributed fish 

 over the lakes and rivers of North America and Canada, and 

 has received a varied assortment of names, amongst them 

 being the following : Green bass, moss bass, Oswego bass, 

 Huron bass, river bass, &c. It prefers sluggish waters, and 

 is frequently found in the brackish water of river mouths. 

 It does not succeed so well in mountain pond^ or streams. 

 It attains a weight of over twenty pounds, but averages 

 about five pounds ; is very active, delights in pure water, 

 and avoids pollution, even to the extent of migration, should 

 this become necessary. It spawns up as late as July, although 

 in some States the fishing opens as early as May ist. The 

 young fry of this variety seek animal food at a very early 

 period of their existence. They have the reputation of 

 being more destructive to one another and to the young of 

 their own species than the small-mouthed bass. They feed 

 on minnows of all kinds, cray fish, frogs, insects, and their 

 larvae ; in fact, nothing comes amiss to them. Their 

 habit is to feed both at the surface and the bottom, and they 

 pursue their prey with wonderful activity. When sur- 

 rounded by nets or caught by the hook, they will leap five 

 or six feet out of the water several times. At the approach 

 of cold weather they seek deep water, and hibernate in the 

 mud. They particularly delight in the shelter of stumps, logs, 

 -or overhanging banks, and are very fond of concealing them- 



