190 



AMERICAN FISHES. 



eighty pounds' weight, though I have never myself seen one of above 

 forty-three ; the smaller sized fish, of seven or eight pounds, are, 

 however, by far the most delicate, and I think those not exceeding 

 fifteen pounds give the best sport to the angler. 



In color, the Striped Bass is bluish brown above, silvery on the 

 sides and beneath. Along each side are from seven to nine equidis- 

 tant dark, parallel stripss, the upper series terminating at the base 

 of the caudal, and the lower above the anal fin. These lines are 

 occasionally indistinct, sometimes interrupted, and more rarely each 

 alternately a continuous stripe and a row of abbreviated lines or dots ; 

 this appears to be the form which Dr. Richardson has designated as 

 the Bar-Fish of the St. Lawrence. 



The body is cylindrical and tapering. Head and body covered 

 with large adhesive scales. Lateral line obvious, running through the 

 fourth stripe, and nearly straight. Head bluntly pointed ; eyes large ; 

 nostrils double ; gill openings large ; lower jaw the longest; teeth numer- 

 ous on the maxillaries, palatine bone and tongue ; operculum armed 

 with two spines on its lower margin, the preoperculum finely dentated. 



The first dorsal consists of nine spinous rays, of which the first and 

 the last are shortest. A simple ray occurs between this and the 

 second dorsal, which consists of twelve branched rays. The pectoral 

 fins have sixteen rays ; the ' ventrals one spinous and five soft rays ; 

 the anal three spinous and eleven soft ; the caudal, which is broadly 

 lunate in shape, has seventeen branded rays. 



The pupils are black, the irides silvery. 



Altogether it is one of the most beautiful, as well as the most excel- 

 lent and sporting of American game fish, the flesh being very firm, 

 white and well-flavored. 



There are two other species of Bass, the Lair ax Rufus, and Labrax 

 PalliduSj or Ruddy, and little White Bass, which are better known, 

 both to anglers and epicures, as the River Pearch of New York, and 

 White Pearch. They are both taken in the brackish waters of tide 

 rivers, and afford fair sport to the angler, as well as being a very deli- 

 cate pan-fish 



