30 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



generic name given to a representative of the genus, the two species 

 should be designated as (a) Micropterus salmoides, the small-mouthed 

 black bass, and (6) Micropterus nigricans, [*~] the large-mouthed 

 bla^ck bass. 



In 1873, Professor Gill traced back the large-mouthed 

 Black Bass only to Huro nigricans Cuv. & Val., and 

 named it Micropterus nigricans (C. & V.) Gill, as shown in 

 the foregoing review. 



But in 1874, Professor G. Brown Goode, while collect- 

 ing in Florida, found this species exceedingly abundant, 

 and the only species of the Black Bass represented in that 

 State; consequently, in 1876, he restored the name be- 

 stowed on this species, from the same locality, by Le Sueur, 

 in 1822 (Cichla floridanci) , and in accordance with the law 

 of priority, called it Micropterus floridanus (Le Sueur) 

 Goode. 



In the following year (1877), however, Professor Jordan 

 found that the same species was very numerous in the 

 tributaries of the Ohio River, in Kentucky, where Rafin- 

 esque fished in 1818-20, and after a thorough investigation, 

 he anjj Prof. Gill identified this species as Lepomis pallida 

 Raf.; whereupon, in obedience to the same law of pre- 

 cedence, they gave to it its present name, Micropterus 

 pallidus (Raf.) Gill and Jordan ; which, by the way, is as 

 appropriate as all other synonyms are incongruous, and 

 which might be expected from its having been the name 

 by which the species was designated by a naturalist who 

 took his specimens, alive and kicking, from nature's book.f 



* Profs. Gill and Jordan subsequently substituted Micropterus pallidus for 

 Micropterus nigricans, for reasons which will appear later in this chapter. 

 J. A. H. 



t" In further justification of the opinions here advanced, it may be 



