160 



THE STRIPED BASSE. 



phical Society of the city of New York, says that Basse is a 

 Dutch word, signifying perch. As there is a difference of 

 opinion among the few American authors, in respect to this 

 fish, we give their own words. 



Smith of Massachusetts, defines this species as the Stri- 

 ped Basse, Rock Basse PercaLabrax (Lin. SciaenaBloch.) 

 " On the sides are parallel lines, like narrow ribbons, eight 

 in number, which give it the name of the striped basse: 

 the scales are large, of a metallic lustre ; in the opper- 

 culum, the middle plate is serrated ; the last portion of the 

 third plate the gill cover, constituted of three pieces, has two 

 nearly concealed spines. In the brancial membrane are 

 seven rays ; pectoral, sixteen ; ventral, six ; dorsal, eight in 

 the first, fourteen in the second ; anal fifteen, and in the cau- 

 dal 17 ; some of them in each fin, according to the size, it 

 would appear, of the individual, are stiff or spinous. 



" Three or four of the stripes reach the tail, the num- 

 ber not always being constant ; and the remainder gradually 

 disappear at different points on the abdominal walls; the 

 eyes are white, the head strikes one as being long, and the 

 under jaw, as in the pike, juts beyond its fellow. Next to the 

 mackerel, this is decidedly the handsomest of native fishes. 



" Striped Bass, are a sea fish, and principally subsist near 

 the mouths of rivers, up which they run as high as they can 

 conveniently go. During the approach of winter, instead of 

 striking out into the deep water of the open ocean, like most 

 other anadromous species, the basse finds a residence in 

 ponds, coves, rivers, and still arms of the sea, where undis- 

 turbed and comfortable, it remains till the following spring. 

 The principal rivers in the state of Maine, as the Penobscot. 

 &c., are the places where they are now* taken in the great- 

 est abundance, and of the finest flavor and size. In all the 

 rivers, too. of Massachusetts, they are also found, at the in- 



* 1833. 



