462 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



taken a thousand crappies in three days' fishing with hook and 

 line. As the fish is gregarious, congregating in large schools, 

 and fearless, it can be taken in the immense numbers given. 

 The best bait for crappie is a small shiner. It rises well also 

 to the artificial fly. As a food fish this is one of the best in our 

 inland waters, and its adaptability for life in artificial ponds 

 should make it a favorite with fish culturists. 



231 Pomoxis sparoides (Lac^p^de) 



Calioo Bass; Strawberry Bass 



Labrus sparoides Lacepede, Hist. Nat, Poiss. 11^, 517, 1802, South Carolina. 

 Cantharus nigromaculatus Le Sueue, in, Cuvieb & Valenciennes, Hist. 



Nat. Poiss. Ill, 88, 1829, Wabash River. 

 GentrarcJius hencacantJius Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. VII, 



458, 1831, Charleston, S. C; Kirtland, Bost. Jonr. Nat. Hist. Ill, 480, 



pi. XXIX, fig. 2, 1841; Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. I, 257, 1859. 

 Pomotis Tiexacantlius Holbrook, Ichth. S. C. 15, pi. 3, fig-. 1, 1856. 

 Pomoxys sparoides Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, IT. S. Nat. Mus. 465, 1883; 



Bean, Fishes Penna. 102, color pi. 9, 1893. 

 Pomoxis sparoides Meek, Ann. N. Y. Ac. Sci. IV, 312, 1888; Bollman, Rep't. 



U. S. F. C. XVI, 559, pi. 68, fig. 2, 1892; Jordan & Bvermann, Bull. 



47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 987, 1896, pi. CLIV, fig. 416, 1900; Eugene Smith, 



Proc. Linn. Soc. N. Y. for 1897, 33, 1898. 



The calico bass has the depth about one half the length, not 

 including the tail, the head about one third. The mouth is very 

 oblique and smaller than in the crappie. The eye is as long as 

 the snout and one fourth as long as the head. The maxilla 

 reaches to slightly beyond the middle of the eye. The dorsal 

 and anal fins are very high; the longest rays are half as long 

 as the head. The pectoral is as long as the ventral, slightly 

 shorter than the longest ray of the dorsal. The ventral reaches 

 to third anal spine. D. VII, 15; A. VI, 17-18. Scales 7-42-15. 

 The sides are olivaceous with silvery reflections and mottled 

 with pale green. The dorsal, anal and caudal show pale spots 

 surrounded by green reticulations. 



The calico bass, on account of its wide distribution and vari- 

 ability, has received a profusion of names. Many of these are 

 variations of the term bass. It is known, for example, as straw- 

 berry bass, grass bass, lake bass, Lake Erie bass, bank lake bass, 

 silver bass, and big-fin bass. Other names for the species are 



