CHAPTER II. 



SOUTHERN FISHES. 



WAY down South in Old Virginia, at Charleston, 

 along the coast of Florida, around and through 

 the Gulf of Mexico, and in all the ponds, lakes, 

 and beautiful rivers, in addition to the spotted 

 basse and black trout, before mentioned, are 

 found a large variety of fishes, most of them entirely distinct 

 from those of the North ; and many of them, with the excep- 

 tion of the salmon, giving quite as much sport and pleasure 

 to the angler. Florida and many parts of the Southern 

 coast having become a winter resort for many of our North- 

 ern invalids — 



Who, having fished for trout and basse, 

 Now angle near the Christian Pass — 



is visited by hundreds and thousands who fly to a more con- 

 genial clime during the cold season, a description of the 

 inhabitants of the waters of the "balmy South," together 

 with their mode of capture, has become a necessity in a 

 work on the Fish and Fishing of the United States. 



Among the coast-fishes that are found North and South, 

 and that vary but little, if any, are the sheepshead, the red 

 drum, the bonita, and the Lafayette-fish, or spot. The 



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