THE BASS 67 



the East Anglian term for the common perch ; for, as Pro- 

 fessor Skeat has pointed out, the English fashion of slurring 

 the r renders the presence of that consonant of uncertain 

 significance except at the beginning of a syllable. 



In external form the bass, or sea-perch, differs from the 

 river perch chiefly in having only nine spines in the dorsal 

 fin instead of thirteen to fifteen, and in carrying teeth upon 

 its tongue, whereas the tongue of the river perch is unarmed ; 

 but its scheme of coloration is very different. The bass has 

 discarded or concealed the parti-coloured attire which dis- 

 tinguishes most of the perch clan, and has assumed a salmon- 

 like livery, grey on the back and bright silver on the sides. 



This fish appears in shoals in the shallow seas and estuaries 

 of Southern England and Ireland from about the middle of 

 June to the middle of September, but in the more northern 

 parts of the British seas, bass are seldom taken. One, how- 

 ever, was killed on a salmon fly in the tidal water of the 

 Arbort river, on the west coast of Inverness-shire, July i6th, 

 1 90 1, by Mr. Alexander Grant.* 



The Greeks and Romans of classical times esteemed the 

 bass very highly as a table fish, and those which entered the 

 Tiber and gorged themselves with the refuse at the outfall 

 of Cloaca maxima were esteemed the finest for this purpose. 

 At the present day this fish has fallen out of repute as a 

 delicacy, and even as food ; few people, probably, being 

 qualified to testify from experience as to its merits. 



Anglers who have encountered this voracious fish speak 

 highly of its sporting qualities ; but opportunity seems to be 

 Angling for ^"^^'^ more fickle in its favours to bass-fishers than 



Bass. |-Q others. Mr. Aflalo, in his recent work on 

 Sea and Coast Fishingy\ dilates enthusiastically upon them as 

 the most sporting fish to be caught in salt or brackish water ; 



* Mr. Harvie Brown, in Annals of Scottish Natural History (No. 43, 



P- 155)- 



t London: Grant Richards, 1901. 



