AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 461 



the centre of it. I have noticed that this fish possesses the 

 remarkable faculty of changing its color at will, and in an incon- 

 ceivably short space of time. When you come suddenly upon 

 him, you see him plainly; directly he vanishes, and you imagine 

 he has gone; in a few minutes he gradually assumes his color, 

 and you behold him again in the same spot. I do not know what 

 to call this fish, as he cannot be identified with the black bass, 

 differing from him as he does in physical form and habits; yet, 

 when seen side by side in the water, they cannot be distinguished 

 apart. 



The White Lake Bass {Lahrax AlUdus)^ was caught at the same 

 time, and may justly be called a very beautiful fish. Its color is a 

 a bluish white, with dusky narrow parallel streaks beneath the 

 lateral line; the sides and abdomen are silvery white, irises white, 

 pupils intensely black; the caudal and dorsal fins are brown, 

 edged with blue; pectoral fins white, bordered with green; ven- 

 tral fins blue, tinged with white; weighs about one and three- 

 quarter pounds, and can have but few superiors as an article of diet. 

 This fish is admirably adapted to do well in ponds. It spawns 

 about the middle of May, in gravel; the male opens a trench 

 three inches wide, and one inch deep, by forcing himself through 

 with great vigor and rapidity; he is immediately followed by the 

 female, who deposits her ova, and when she stops to rest he 

 returns behind her, drives off the little fry that always follow to 

 eat the spawn, showing great anger by expanding his tail, open- 

 ing his gill covers, and raising his fins to their utmost capacity) 

 and occasionally swallows several of them at a time, being a very 

 voracious fish. Having cleared the grounds, he impregnates the 

 ova, and covers them with his tail, by which time the female is 

 ready for a new furrow, and the work progresses. She appears 

 to deposit all her ova in about four hours, commencing usually at 

 10 o'clock in the morning. He is a great feeder, takes the hook 

 readily, bated with live or dead fish, artificial flies or red flannel. 



Dace {Leuciscus Pulchellus). — This is one of the most beautiful 

 of the bass family, and an excellent fish for the pan; is particu- 

 larly satisfied to live in an artificial pond, without inlet or outlet. 

 Being sluggish in his habits, he is unwilling to contend with rapid 



