120 TELEOSTEI: ACANTHOPTEKI. XX. 



Chicago. A familiar and active inhabitant of clear brooks, defend- 

 ing its nests with great spirit. " A very beautiful and compact fish, 

 perfect in all its parts, looking like a brilliant coin fresh from the 

 mint." (Lat., gibbous.) 



157. MICROPTERUS Lacepede. BLACK BASS. (ptKpos, 



small ; TrrepoV, fin.) 



a. Mouth moderate, the maxillary in adult not extending beyond eye ; scales 

 small, about 11-74-17 ; young more or less barred or spotted, never with 

 a black lateral band. 



320. M. dolomieu Lacepede. SMALL-MOUTHED BLACK BASS. 

 Body ovate-oblong, growing deep with age ; scales on the cheek 

 small, in about 1 7 rows ; D. less deeply notched than in the next ; 

 the ninth spine about half as long as the longest. Coloration vari- 

 able, the young dull golden-green, with darker spots on sides which 

 tend to cluster in short vertical bars ; 3 bronze bands across cheeks ; 

 C. yellowish, next black, with a white tip ; D. with bronze spots. 

 Adult nearly uniform olive-green. Head 3^; depth 3^-. D. X, 13. 

 A. Ill, 10. Scales 10 or 11-72 to 75-17. L. 1 to 2 feet; weight 

 2 to 7 pounds. St. Lawrence River to Dakota, S. to S. C., Ala., 

 and Ark., preferring clear and running streams ; hence less common 

 S. than the next, and for the same reason usually considered the 

 better game-fish. " The Black-bass is eminently an American fish ; 

 he has the faculty of asserting himself and of making himself com- 

 pletely at home wherever placed. He is plucky, game, brave, un- 

 yielding to the last, when hooked. He has the arrowy rush and 

 vigor of a trout, the untiring strength and bold leap of a salmon, 

 while he has a system of fighting tactics peculiarly his own. I con- 

 sider him inch for inch and pound for pound the gamest fish that 

 swims." (/. A. Henshall.) (To M. Dolomieu, a scientist of Paris.) 

 aa. Mouth very large, the maxillary in the adult extending beyond the eye; 



scales rather large, about 7-68-16 ; last spines of D. very short, so that 

 the fin is almost divided into two ; young with a blackish lateral 

 band. 



321. M. salmoides (Lacepede). LARGE-MOUTHED BLACK 

 BASS. GREEN BASS. OSWEGO BASS. BAYOU BASS. Body 

 rather deeper and more compressed than in the preceding, growing 

 deeper with age; scales on cheek large, in about 10 rows; 9th D. 

 spine not half length of longest. Color dark green, silvery below ; 

 sides with a broad blackish band in young, with some dark spots 

 above and below it ; three dark stripes across cheeks ; C. pale at 

 base and tip, mesially dusky. Adult dull green, nearly plain. Head 

 3J; depth 3. D. X, 13. A. Ill, 11. Scales 8-68-16. L. 1 to 2 

 feet ; weight 3 to 8 pounds. Dakota to N. Y., S. to Florida and 

 Mexico ; everywhere abundant, preferring lakes, bayous, and slug- 

 gish waters. Variable. (Lat., Salmo, salmon ; eldos, like, which it 

 is not.) 



