320 Bass, Pike, and Perch 



dida, and may be distinguished by their very 

 wide mouths, which open back to the gill-cover. 

 The species all look very much alike ; the most 

 common ones are the banded anchovy (Stole- 

 phorus perfasciatus), with narrow silvery longi- 

 tudinal band, and from two to three inches long ; 

 the big anchovy (Stolephorus brownii\ which is 

 deeper and grows larger, from four to six inches 

 in length; these two species are mostly con- 

 fined to the south and west coasts. Another 

 species, also abundant on the east coast, is the 

 silver anchovy (Stolephorus mitchillf), which is 

 more silvery or translucent in appearance than 

 the others, with yellowish fins and dotted body. 



There are a number of crabs that are excellent 

 baits, as the hermit crab (Eupagurus\ which 

 lives in the cast-off shells of univalve mollusks ; 

 fiddler crab (Gelasimus), which abounds in myr- 

 iads on the inside shores of the bays ; the spider 

 crab (Libinia), which is quite common in shallow 

 water, sometimes covered with bits of weeds, 

 shells, etc. ; the common crab (Cancer) ; the lady 

 crab (Platyonichus\ beautifully spotted ; the stone 

 crab (Menipfe\ quite a large crab, with very 

 large claws; the mud crab (Panopeus), a small 

 crab and a very good bait. There are a number 



