THE BASSES: FRES H-W ATER AND MARINE 



ture (often given in the dead languages) and the 

 scientific classification laid down in the complicated 

 text-books of the scientists, so that they may be 

 able to differentiate their favorite fishes and assign 

 them to the correct family or species. 



This condition will be better understood when it 

 is stated that ichthyologists tell us that - 



The black bass is not a bass it is a sunfish. 

 The white perch is not a perch it is a bass. 

 The rock-bass is not a bass it is a sunfish. 

 The wall-eyed pike is not a pike it is a perch, 



and so on almost without limit. 



These statements are maintained in the face of 

 the fact that in every section of the country the 

 first names above stated are those given to the fish 

 by fishermen, many of whom know no other ap- 

 pellatives for them. Again, the great number of 

 local and popular names applied to one and the 

 same fish in various parts of the United States 

 adds to the confusion in the identification of 

 species. Thus the big-mouthed black bass of 

 Louisiana, among its many other Southern names, 

 is there known as the " green trout," while in 

 Virginia it is called a "chub"; and the familiar 

 wall-eyed pike or pike-perch is known in Penn- 

 sylvania and other waters as " salmon." 



