EPISODES 519 



at anything; but you may procure them with a cast-net 

 or a seine, provided you are well acquainted with the 

 localities. On the contrary, when the waters are clear 

 and low, every secluded hole, every eddy under the lee 

 of a rock, every place sheltered by a raft of timber, will 

 afford you amusement. In some parts of the Southern 

 States, the negroes procure these fishes late in the autumn 

 in shallow ponds or bayous, by wading through the water 

 with caution, and placing at every few steps a wicker 

 apparatus, not unlike a small barrel, open at both ends. 

 The moment the fishes find themselves confined within 

 the lower part of this, which is pressed to the bottom 

 of the stream, their skippings announce their capture, and 

 the fisher secures his booty. 



This species, the Labrus auritus of Linnaeus, the Pomo- 

 tis vulgaris of Cuvier, seldom exceeds five or six inches 

 in length, but is rather deep in proportion. The usual 

 size is from four to five inches, with a depth of from two 

 to two and a half. They are not bony, and at all seasons 

 afford delicate eating. Having observed a considerable 

 change in their color in different parts of the United 

 States, and in different streams, ponds, or lakes, I was 

 led to think that this curious effect might be produced 

 by the difference of color in the water. Thus the Sun- 

 fish caught in the deep waters of Green River, in Ken- 

 tucky, exhibit a depth of olive-brown quite different from 

 the general tint of those caught in the colorless waters 

 of the Ohio or Schuylkill; those of the reddish-colored 

 waters of the bayous of the Louisiana swamps look as if 

 covered with a coppery tarnish; and, lastly, those met 

 with in streams that glide beneath cedars or other firs, 

 have a pale and sallow complexion. 



The Sun Perch, wherever found, seems to give a 

 decided preference to sandy, gravelly, or rocky .beds of 

 streams, avoiding those of which the bottom is muddy. 

 At the period of depositing their eggs this preference 



