118 FISHES OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



Among the successful baits for this species are stone catfish, helgra- 
mites and crickets. 
This bass prefers rapid water, is extremely active, and frequents 
clear, rapid-flowing streams where the water is pure, and thrives in 
greater elevations than those preferred by the large-mouthed. It hiber- 
nates in the winter and spawns:in the shallow or gravelly bottoms in 
spring. It follows its prey into shallow water, and frequently leaps far 
out of the water in its efforts to escape from the hook or when fright- 
ened by the sudden approach of an enemy. It swims in schools, and is 
often found in the shelter of sunken logs and in the vicinity of large 
rocks. ; 
The spawning season begins in March and ends in July. The period 
of incubation lasts from seven to fourteen days. The eggs are bound 
together in bands or ribbons by an adhesive substance. They adhere to 
stones on which they are deposited. The parent fish build nests and 
protect the eggs and young. In the Delaware the current is more rapid 
and the temperature lower than in the Susquehanna, hence the bass 
spawn earlier in the latter than in the Delaware. The spawning fish 
have nearly all left their spawning beds in the Susquehanna early in 
July, but at this time most of the nests in the Delaware are still full of 
eggs. By some writers it is believed that the female prepares the nest 
before the male joins her. The males fight for the possession of the 
female and are said to help the process of ejecting the eggs by biting 
or pressing the belly of the female. After the eggs are deposited the 
female guards the nest from the attacks of the crawfish and some other 
enemies. The young are consumed by many birds and by frogs and 
snakes, yet notwithstanding the numerous enemies of the black bass its 
multiplication has been rapid and enormous. 
130. Micropterus salmoides (Jac.) 
The Large-mouthed Black Bass. (Figure 66.) 
The large-mouthed black bass takes its common name from the size of its jaws; 
the lower jaw projects very strongly and the maxilla in the adult extends beyond 
the hind margin of the eye. The depth of the body is about one-third of the total 
without caudal, and does not equal the length of the head. The eye is shorter than 
the snout, about one-sixth of the length of the head. The pectoral is half as long as 
the head, much longer than the ventral. The spinous dorsal is very low, its ninth 
and tenth spines not so long as the eye; its fourth spine longest, aoout one-fourth 
length of head. Seven to eight scales above the lateral line, beiow sixteen and in 
* the lateral line about 68, The color is greenish, silvery below. The young have a 
broad dark lateral band. 
Dre ss AS Ln OT” 
This species may best be distinguished from the small-mouthed black bass by the 
size of its mouth and the number of rows of scales above the lateral line. The 
young of the small-mouthed species, also, never have a dark lateral band. 
‘ommon names for this species are Oswego bass, river bass, green bass, 
moss bass, bayou bass, trout, jumper, chuband Welshman. Throughout 
the North it is generally known as bass, in Virginia and North Caro- 
