104 FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

upper part of the body are traces of narrow vertical bars. The dorsal and caudal are 
mottled, but the anal is usually uniform pale. 
Among the many names which have been applied to the crappie are: 
bachelor, newlight, Campbellite, sac-a-lait, bridge perch, strawberry 
perch, chinquapin perch, speckled perch, tin perch, goggle-eye, John 
demon, shad, white croppie and timber croppie. 
In the lower Mississippi valley the crappie is one of the commonest 
fishes. It is abundant also in the Ohio valley and occurs rarely in Lake 
Erie. The Ohio, Illinois and Mississippi rivers are particularly noted 
for an abundance of crappies, and it is very plentiful in Lake Pontchar- 
train, Louisiana where it is one of the most highly prized of the smaller 
game fishes. 
The crappie is a very general favorite for pond culture, can be readily 
transported and under favorable conditions multiplies prodigiously. 
Its range has been very much extended by artificial means. The best 
distinguishing marks between the crappie and the calico bass are the more 
elongated form of the crappie, the presence of six spines in the dorsal 
and the nearly uniform whitish color of the anal. In the crappie the 
ereatest depth of the body is usually contained two and one-half times 
in the total length without the tail, while in the calico bass the depth 
equals one-half the length. These two species are so closely similar in 
size and habits that they are rarely distinguished except by ichthy- 
ologists. 
The crappie grows to the length of about one foot and usually weighs 
one pound or less, but in a lake near St. Louis an individual weighing 
three pounds has been recorded. 
Crappie fishing usually begins in June and lasts until the coming of 
cold weather. Large numbers of this fish are collected near Quincy, 
Illinois, for distribution to other waters. At Peoria, Illinois, Professor . 
Forbes has taken them in March and April; he has found them also in 
Pistakee Lake and at Ottawa. Cedar Lake, Indiana, and King’s Lake, 
Missouri, are celebrated crappie waters. Near Covington, Kentucky, in 
private ponds belonging to Joseph Schlosser there are myriads of crap- 
pie as well as other game fishes. 
Prof. 8. A. Forbes has studied the feeding habits of the crappie and 
finds that the young live chiefly upon entomostraca and small insect 
larvee. The adults subsist upon the same food when obtainable, but in 
times of scarcity they feed to some extent upon other fishes. Small 
minnows and darters have been found in their stomachs. Inthe autumn - 
Prof. Forbes has found a larger percentage of small fishes, sometimes 
constituting nearly two-fifths of their food. The helgramite is eaten by 
the crappie. In cold weather it does not consume one-fourth the amount 
of food which it takes in the early spring. The crappie prefers still 
waters, thriving even in warm and muddy water, and has been taken in 
large numbers in inid-summer at depths of only a few feet; in cold 
