52 SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOOK OP THE BLACK BASS. 



mens three adult and the others young. I had none of these 

 species under an inch in length*, but, judging from the general 

 resemblance of the food of this and the preceding Bass at later 

 ages, I do not doubt that this will also be found to feed at first 

 on Entomostraca, although insect food is possibly more important 

 to it from the beginning." 



Seven small-mouthed Bass, from one to two inches in 

 length, had eaten only five per cent, of Entomostraca, the 

 remainder of the food consisting of insects and their larvae. 

 Ten specimens, between two and three inches long, showed, 

 in addition to the insect food, five per cent, of fishes, and 

 in those ranging from three to four inches in length the 

 amount of fish food increased to fourteen per cent., the in- 

 sect food dropped to seven per cent., with seventy-nine per 

 cent, of Crustacea. The three adults had eaten thirty- 

 eight per cent, of fishes and sixty-two per cent, of craw- 

 fishes. 



Some allowance should be made for the character of the 

 different waters in which the specimens were collected, as 

 Entomostraca and other minute Crustacea are more abund- 

 ant in still water, while the larvae of certain insects are 

 more plentiful under the stones of rapid streams. 



In some waters, under favorable conditions of food and 

 environment, Black Bass of exceptionable size and weight 

 are occasionally taken. The large specimens mentioned on 

 page 166,* I find, upon a more careful examination of the 

 photograph, to be small-mouthed Bass without any doubt, 

 and are extraordinary examples of that species, the usual 

 maximum weight of which is about five pounds. Since 

 Mr. Cheney took those fish, he records the capture of two 



*Book of the Black Bass, 1881. 



