FAMILY PERCID^ LABRAX. 9 



about the beginning of September. They keep between the outer bar and the beach, where 

 they are caught by the seine in large quantities for the New-York and Pliiladelphia markets. 

 From the same writer, we learn that they ascend rivers as far as the depth of water will per- 

 mit, and lie among the bushes. Sometimes, from heavy rains, or the sudden melting of 

 snow, the fish are forced from their abode back again to the salt water, and remain there until 

 the freshet subsides, when they invariably reascend. They ascend high up the Hudson river, 

 and have been taken under the Cohoes falls of the Mohawk. The larger individuals, called 

 Green-heads, never ascend fresh-water streams. Along the coast, they enter creeks and inlets 

 at night with the flood tide, in order to feed, and return with the ebb. Advantage is taken of 

 this circumstance, by stretching a seine across the outlet, when great numbers are taken. 

 As the weather grows colder, they penetrate into bays and ponds connected with the sea, 

 where they imbed themselves in the mud. Near Sag-harbor, Suffolk county, I noticed one 

 of these ponds, which was a source of great annual profit to the owner. 



This species, it will be noticed above, has had the fortune to receive many names. Dr. 

 Mitchill, who was unacquainted with the labors of his predecessors, imposed upon this spe- 

 cies, with characteristic simplicity, his o^^-n name. It is known under the various popular 

 names of Striped and Streaked Bass, Rock-fish, and oftener Rock. 



SchcEpff observes of this species, that " it is very common, and caught during the whole 

 " year on the coast of New- York. They are brought into the market (dead) in great abun- 

 " dance during the winter." " There are other fish in the same waters, which in shape, size 

 " and color, completely resemble the striped bass, except that they have no lateral stripes 

 " whatever. It is supposed that they are the same, and that they do not, until they are two 

 " or three years old, take those stripes which sufficiently distinguish them from all others. 

 " The linnean characters of Perca aspera apply to the above named fish, but it is clearly a 

 " new species." It is probable, that in the latter paragraph, Schcepff alludes to some species 

 of Pogonias. 



From the avidity with which the striped bass seizes a hook baited with soft crab, clams, 

 and the smaller Crustacea, it is probable that they form no inconsiderable portion of its food. 



THE RUDDY BASS. 



LaBRAX RUFt7S. 



PLATE HI. FIG. 7. — (STATE COLLECTION.) 



Perca, River Perch at Neic-York. ScH(EPFF, Beobachtungen, &c. 1788, p. 159. 



Marme rufa. Mitchill, Report in part, p. 18. 



Bodianus rufus. Id. Phil. Tr. Vol. 1, p. 420. 



Le petit Bar d'Amerique, Labrax mucronatus. Cdv. et Val. Hist. Poiss. Vol. 2, p. 86, pi. 12. 



Labrax mucronatus. Storer, Massachusetts Report, p. 8. 



Characteristics. Dark bluish above, with a reddish hue over the whole body, fading into a 

 reddish on the sides ; no lateral stripes. Length eight to ten inches. 

 Fauna — Part 4. 2 



