o 



60 Bass, Pike, and Perch 



bone-fish, and the ten-pounder, or bony-fish, as 

 game-fishes of high degree, and accorded equal 

 praise to both species as to gameness. I have 

 never been able to convince myself as to which 

 is entitled to the palm ; but they are both good 

 enough, and comparisons are indeed odious as 

 between them. I am glad to note that they are 

 coming to the front and their merits at last rec- 

 ognized. Of late years northern anglers are 

 having great sport with the lady-fish on Biscayne 

 Bay ; but judging from their communications in 

 the sportsman's journals, they are confusing the 

 lady-fish with the ten-pounder. This is easily 

 accounted for, inasmuch as they are usually of 

 about the same size, and have very much the 

 same general appearance in form and bright 

 silvery coloration ; and moreover there is a con- 

 fusion attending their vernacular names, as the 

 lady-fish is sometimes known as bony-fish. It 

 should be remembered that the lady-fish has an 

 overhanging, piglike snout and larger scales, 

 while the ten-pounder has a terminal mouth with 

 the jaws about equal, and smaller scales. More- 

 over, the bony-fish, or ten-pounder, has a bony 

 plate under the lower jaw, like the tarpon, which 

 is absent in the lady-fish. Both are cosmopolitan, 



