F £ £ D I N C-H ABITS OF TH£ BLACK BASS 



of five or six inches into a hole between the stones 

 of the side wall of a dam, a portion of the body of 

 the victim protruding. Mr. Bass swam quietly 

 up, and, selecting the softest and most delicate part 

 of the chub (the beUy), deliberately tore out a 

 mouthful and swam slowly away with what seemed 

 a pleasurable flirt of the tail. 



This tiger-like trait of the black bass is not ad- 

 mitted by some angling writers as being constant 

 or natural. A prominent author goes so far in the 

 defence of his favorite fish as to assert that it is 

 less destructive to the hfe of its fellows than the 

 yellow perch, pike-perch, mascalonge, trout, and 

 other fishes, and bases his belief on the fact that the 

 teeth are weak, closely packed, and present " an 

 even surface as uniform as the surface of a tooth- 

 brush. Such teeth are incapable of woimding, 

 and merely form a secure svirface for holding 

 their prey securely." Black-bass anglers every- 

 where would gladly accept these words as gospel 

 truths; but the fact remains that the black bass, 

 like all other fish known to us, do not masticate 

 their food, but gulp it down whole; and that, 

 their teeth being firm enough to keep their prey 

 from slipping, the strength of the jaws is suffi- 

 cient to tear out a bit of the tenderest part of a 

 soft-fleshed cyprinoid. 



27 



