THE BLACK BASS AS A GAME FISH. 167 



angler, the result would be the same were the trout allowed 

 undisturbed and peaceable possession of the streams, so far 

 as the fish-hook is concerned, while the axe of the lumber- 

 man continues to ring its death knell. 



Let us, then, cherish and foster and protect the crimson- 

 spotted favorite of our youthful days as long as possible in 

 public waters, and introduce the rainbow-trout, or the Dolly 

 Varden, or some of the Pacific black-spotted trout, or the 

 English brown trout, when he has disappeared ; and when 

 all these succumb, then, and not till then, introduce the 

 Black Bass. But let us give these cousins of the brook 

 trout a fair trial first, and without prejudice. There are 

 plenty of lakes, ponds and large streams in the Eastern 

 States into which the Black Bass can be introduced without 

 interfering with trout-waters. 



For many years to come brook-trout will be artificially 

 cultivated, and the supply thus kept up in preserved waters 

 by wealthy angling clubs ; but by the alteration of the na- 

 tural conditions of their existence they will gradually de- 

 crease in size and quality, until finally they will either cease 

 to be or degenerate to such a degree as to forfeit even this 

 praiseworthy protection. 



I must dissent from the statement sometimes made that 

 the Black Bass is the bluefish of fresh waters. The Black 

 Bass is voracious so are all game fishes but not more so 

 than the brook-trout. The character of a fish's teeth de- 

 termines the nature of its food and the manner of its feed- 

 ing. The bluefish has the most formidable array of teeth 

 of any fish of its size compressed, lancet-shaped, covered 

 with enamel, and exceedingly strong and sharp, in fact, 

 miniature shark teeth while the Black Bass has soft, 

 small, brush-like teeth, incapable of wounding, and intended 



