48 Book of the Black Bass. 



is the gape of the mouth, which in the large-mouth hass 

 seems simply enormous to those who have pfreviously seen 

 but the small-mouth species. The contrast in build, and 

 external conformation, of the two species, is at once strik- 

 ing and characteristic. The large-mouth bass is thicker, 

 especially through the shoulders, deeper in the body, and 

 seems a heavier fish for its length than the other species, 

 conveying the impression that it is the stronger and more 

 powerful fish, as, indeed, it is ; while the small-mouth bass, 

 owing to its trim, slender and more graceful shape, truly 

 convinces one that it is the more active and agile. 



The relative size of the scales is all important in the dif- 

 ferentiation of the two species. In the large-mouth bass 

 these are much larger, there being but from sixty-five to 

 seventy scales along the lateral line, running from the head 

 to the tail ; while in the small-mouth species there are from 

 seventy to eighty. Between the lateral line and the base 

 of the dorsal fin there are but eight horizontal rows of scales 

 in the large-mouth bass, while there are eleven similar rows 

 in the small-mouth bass. The scales on the nape and 

 breast in the large-mouth species are not much smaller than 

 those of the sides; but in the other species they are much 

 smaller ; and while the scales on the cheeks and gill-covers 

 of the large-mouth bass are small, those of corresponding 

 situations in the small-mouth bass are quite minute, with a 

 small portion of the gill-covers (preopereular limb) en- 

 tirely bare. 



The size and shape of the fins also differ somewhat, espe- 

 cially the dorsal, which in the small-mouth bass has the 

 rays of the spinous portion higher and more uniform in 

 size, rendering this fin higher, not so arching, and with a 

 shallower notch than in the large-mouth form. 



The differences, then, in the form, gape of mouth, and 



