110 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK, 



OSWEGO BASS. 



This fish resembles the Black Bass so closely, that few 

 anglers have any appreciation of the difference. It is taken 

 on the same feeding-ground, and in the same way ; it leaps 

 from the water when struck, though perhaps not as often as 

 the latter, and is almost as game ; its flesh is said to be inferior 

 to that of the Black Bass. 



The only difference perceptible to the angler, is the greater 

 bulk of this fish in proportion to its length, a greater pro- 

 tuberance of belly, and larger head. 



I counted nine spines and fifteen rays on the dorsal fin, the 

 pectorals had sixteen, anal thirteen, preceded by two short 

 obtuse spines detached from each other. The specimen I 

 examined weighed three pounds, was sixteen inches long 

 thirteen in girth, and five and a half broad. There is cer- 

 tainly a specific difference between the two, though natu- 

 ralists, as far as I have been able to ascertain, have failed to 

 notice a fact which is apparent to anglers. 



