3IO GAAfE FISH OF 1-^ORTH AMERICA. 



locally known as the Oswego bass, — behveen which two propel 

 names there is quite a similarity. While the Oswego bass, or 

 black bass, is a voracious feeder and ravenous biter at the hook,- 

 the Otsego bass scarcely ever takes the hook. It appears to be pe- 

 culiar to the Otsego Lake, just as the trout of Winnipisseogee Lake 

 are peculiar to its waters. It has been taken in seines, by several 

 thousands at a time, but was rapidly decreasing in numbers until 

 the year 1871, when the Fish Commissioners began their artificial 

 propagation and the restocking of the lake. 



MICROSTOMID.*;. 



Smelts. — O^merus mordajc. — Gill. 



The fresh water Smelts found in Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 

 wick rivers, in certain portions of Lake Champlain, and in Xew 

 Hampshire, Massachusetts, and possibly many other places, are 

 identical with the sea smelts, having been introduced into fresh wa- 

 ters and acclimated there. It is said that Jamaica Pond, in Massa- 

 chusetts, was stocked with them as long ago as the close of the last 

 century. They take the hook freely in February and March, and 

 affoid lively play for light tackle. The smelts of the Raritan, Pas- 

 saic, and Delaware Rivers are believed to be identical with their 

 more northern congeners, while the Potomac smelts found in the 

 Washington markets are the Hybognathiis regius. 



Efforts, wherever made by the several State Fish Commfe- 

 sioners, to propagate smelts artificially, have been abundantly 

 rewarded. 



AMIID^. 



Lake Herring; BowUn or Mud6sh. — Amia occidentalis. — ^De Kay. 



The Bowlin or Mudfish, found in the sluggish marshy streams 

 of Vermont, and identical with the dog-fish, mud-fish or lake 

 lawyer (amia ocellicauda) of Lake Huron, Lake Pepin, and other 

 Western waters. The only other known species is the amia caha 

 of De Kay, found in Lakes Erie and Ontario. It is a worthless, 

 voracious fish, and is caught in the summer and early fall with 

 frogs, minnows, alive or dead, and the trolling spoon. He often 

 attains a weight of twelve pounds. [See Western Inland Fishes.] 



