FISHES. 233 



black-bass is eminently an Anaerican fish, and has been said to be representative in his 

 characteristics. He has the faculty of asserting himself and making himself com- 

 pletely at home wherever placed. He is plucky, game, brave, and unyielding to the 

 last, when hooked. He has the arrowy rush and vigor of the trout, the untiring 

 strength and bold leap of the salmon, while he has a system of fighting tactics pecu- 

 liarly his own. He will rise to the artificial fly as readily as the salmon or the brook 

 trout, under the same conditions, and will take the live minnow or other live bait 

 under any and all circumstances favorable to the taking of any other fish." Finally, 

 Dr. Henshall considers him, " inch for inch and pound for pound, the gamest fish that 

 swims. The royal salmon and the lordly trout must yield the palm to a black-bass 

 of equal weight." That he will eventually become " the leading game fish of 

 America " is Dr. Henshall's oft-expressed opinion and firm belief. 



It need scarcely be added that the sj)ortsmanlike way of obtaining the black-bass 

 is by the fly, but they are often caught by trolling, and indeed, being such bold and 

 eager feeders, they may be caught in almost any of the ways which anglers are wont 

 to use for catching other fresh-water fishes. 



Whilst the black-basses are imequalled in their family as game fishes, there are sev- 

 eral others that give sport — and a good deal of sport — to the boy anglers, although 

 at a great distance behind the black-bass. A species called rook-bass {Ambloplites 

 rupestris) has somewhat the external aspect of the black-bass, but its dorsal and anal 

 fins are much more developed, the body shorter and deeper, and the pterygoids are 

 armed with villiform teeth. The rock-bass is common from the region of the Great 

 Lakes southward to Louisiana and west of the Alleghanies. It is a bold biter, and is 

 of some value both as a food and game fish. Only a single species of this family 

 occurs on the Pacific slope, the Archoplites interruptus. It is much like the rock-bass 

 just described, but has seven branchiostegal rays, which no other member of the fam- 

 ily, except sometimes the black-bass, shows. It attains a considerable size, frequently 

 being found a foot long, or even more. It is confined to the Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin rivers, and in them is abundant. 



Passing over other species, we reach the sun-fishes, or pumpkin-seeds. These 

 form a group very striking on account of the distribution of colors, and the strong 

 contrasts afforded by the contiguous colors. The operculum is .always produced into 

 a large rounded or ear-like lobe, which is quite black, sometimes through its whole, 

 extent, but often there is a border of lighter (blue, red, oi- yellow) behind. A num- 

 ber of species of this type are found in the Mississippi valley, but in the fresh waters 

 of the eastern states only two or three species occur. 



The most common sun-fish of the New England and middle states is a species 

 (jLepomis gibbosits) distinguished by the rather short opercular lobe, whose border 

 behind is decorated with scarlet in its upper part, and yellow in the lower part. The 

 body is greenish-olive, more or less shaded with bluish, and variegated with spots and 

 blotches of orange, while the belly is of a bright orange color ; the cheeks are brown- 

 ish orange, and marked with several wavy-blue streaks. There is no handsomer fish 

 in the American streams. There is also no fish better known to the boys, and none 

 more attractive in its habits than this. In the summer it may be seen in pairs near 

 the banks of ponds, and such are guarding their eggs or young. It is almost exclu- 

 sively angled for with earth-worms. 



A species nearly equally common, and in some places more common, although less 

 universally distributed in the cast than the species just mentioned, is one that has 



