CHAPTER III. 



GENERAL AND SPECIFIC FEATURES. 

 " Like but oh ! how different !" WORDSWORTH. 



As has been shown in the preceding chapter, the genns 

 MICROPTERUS includes but two species, viz : Micropterus 

 dolomieu Lacepede, the small-mouthed Black Bass, and 

 Micropterus salmoides (Lacepede) Henshall, the large- 

 mouthed Black Bass, or, as it is sometimes called, the 

 Oswego Bass. The small-mouthed Bass, however, ex- 

 hibits some minor points of difference between its North- 

 ern and Southern forms, which are now regarded as of 

 varietal importance, and this species has consequently been 

 divided into Micropterus dolomieu var. ackigan, the small- 

 mouthed Bass of the North, and Micropterus dolomieu var. 

 dolomieu, the small-mouthed Bass of the South ; the differ- 

 ences, however, are not of much moment, as they shade 

 into each other, and are to be regarded as merely geo- 

 graphical variations. 



Possibly no genus of fishes has been the occasion of so 

 much confusion, scientifically and popularly, as the Black 

 Bass. This is owing, no doubt, to its extensive habitat 

 and wide-spread distribution ; the original habitat of the 

 species being the great basin of the St. Lawrence, the 

 whole Mississippi Valley or nearly the entire range of 

 country lying between the Appalachian Chain and the 

 Rocky Mountains and the South Atlantic States from 



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