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ABDOMINAL 

 MALACOPTERYGII. SALMOXID^E. 



THE OTSEGO BASS 



OTSEGO LAVARET. 

 Cortgonus Oiscgo; DeKay. Salmo Otsego ; Dewitt Clinton. 



THROUGH the kindness of my esteemed friend, Mr. Cooper, of 

 Cooperstown, I have had an opportunity, during this present spring, 

 of carefully examining and dissecting this exceedingly beautiful and 

 interesting fish, as well as of testing its qualities on the table. 



It is very closely cognate to the last-mentioned species, but is 

 unquestionably distinct ; differing in size, form, in the number of fin- 

 rays, slightly in the gill-covers, and so far as I could discover without 

 a microscope, entirely in the dental system. 



Although a deep fish, it is not nearly so much so as the Attihaw- 

 meg ; the finest specimen which I inspected measuring eighteen and 

 a half inches in length, and ten inches in circumference at the origin 

 of the dorsal fin ; the depth at the same point was a fraction under 

 four inches, not being much less than a fifth of the whole length, 

 including the caudal. The gill-covers differed in form, in having the 

 posterior free margin more curved, and less vertical, the operculum 

 less high in proportion to its length, and the suboperculum more so 



