SCIENTIFIC HISTORY OF THE BLACK BASS. 53 



as we know, was the name applied by Lacepede to Bosc's 

 drawing and description of the Carolina u Trout." 



It has never been definitely settled which species of 

 Black Bass was best represented by the drawing or its de- 

 scription ; but I think this vagueness existed more in the 

 imagination than in realty, and that " the wish was father 

 to that thought ; " or, in other words, that we were willfully 

 blind in deference to authority ; for, as Cuvier had identi- 

 fied it with his Grystes salmoides (which we have supposed 

 to be the small-mouthed Bass, inasmuch as he included, 

 also, Cichla variabilis Le Sueur, and Micropterus dolomieu 

 as synonyms), Labrus salmoides must, therefore, either be 

 pronounced a small-mouthed Bass, or be invested with suf- 

 ficient ambiguity to admit of its becoming synonymous 

 with Grystes salmoides. 



On the other hand, Dr. Vaillant, as we have seen, main- 

 tains that Cuvier and Valenciennes 7 Grystes salmoides is 

 the large-mouthed Bass, and therefore truly synonymous 

 with Labrus salmoides, he claiming the latter to be the 

 large-mouthed Black Bass. Viewed in either light, Grystes 

 salmoides Cuv. and Val. is a crux criticorum-, but fortu- 

 nately it is not essential to us now. 



Let us take Lacepede's figure and description of Labrus 

 salmoides, just as they are, on their own merits, without 

 any reference to Cuvier's valuation of them ; and to render 



standard authority, even for his supposed errors ; and it will be found by 

 those who have occasion to consult them, that he is by no means charge- 

 able with several that have been of late attributed to him. The figures, 

 on the other hand, although well engraved, are, in general, very deficient 

 in accuracy ; the major part being either copies, or drawn by artists who 

 were totally ignorant of the scientific details of their subject." SWAIN- 

 SON, Nat. Hist, and Class, of Fishes, I, 59, 1838. 



