THE STRIPED BASS. 
Labrax Lineatus. 
THE ROCK FISH OF THE DELAWARE AND SOUTHWARD. 
Tus noble and sporting fish, which is peculiar to the 
continent of North America, was first, I believe, distin- 
guished and defined by the late learned Dr. Mitchell, 
of New York, though included by him in the division 
Perea, in lieu of Labrax, to which jt has since been 
more correctly attributed. 
Dr. Smith, in his “Fishes of Massachusetts,” has 
severely censured Dr. Mitchell for his distinguishing this 
fish, and attaching to it his own name—pronouncing it to 
“be a common tablé fish, known from time immemorial 
all over Europe.” Dr. Smith, however, not Dr. Mitchell, 
is the person in error; as the Striped Bass, Labrax Line- 
atus, isa purely American fish, entirely distinct from the 
common European Bass, Labrax Lupus, which very 
rarely leaves the salt water, preferring to spawn in the 
sea bays, rather than to run up fresh streams or rivers, 
