Spot-Tait Bass.—Corvina ocelata, or ‘‘Labrax bimaculatus,” the two- 
spotted bass. 
CHAPTER IL 
SECTION FIRST. 
Tuts fish is particularly described by our learned corre- 
spondent, C——; therefore I have only to state that the en- 
graver cut out one of the spiked dorsals, as there should be 
eight; though the fish after which I made the drawing from 
still-life had a lunated instead of a square tail. Otherwise, 
it was in all particulars like the bass described by C——. 
Dorsal fins and caudal, black; all other fins red; dark gray 
back and sides; white abdomen; steel-blue head and jaws, 
covered with scales, and armed with sharp teeth; scales rath- 
er large, and the ends dark-colored. 
It will be observed that the head and mouth resemble our 
kingfish, except wanting the barb under the lower mandi- 
ble; itis therefore necessary to fish with a striped bass hook, 
about No. 7, made of heavy steel wire and well tempered. 
Those of the Virginia shape, with short bend, or like the Isl- 
and Club hooks, would be preferred. Fish with strong bass 
tackle, the rod about nine feet long, two joints beside a stiff 
lancewood top, with agate or bell-metal tip. A reel large 
enough to carry two hundred yards of thirteen-strands linen 
line. A-bright bait—the side of a scup or shedder-crab are 
the most attractive. The habits of the two-spotted bass, or 
spot-tail, are quite similar to those of the striped bass of 
Northern waters, seeking at the first turn of flood-tide 
along the shallows and weedy shores for crustacea and 
