372 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



abundant than any other sea-flsh, evidently increasing in numbers as the Texas coast is approxi- 

 mated.' On the Texas coast it is taken in greater quantity than aU otiier species combined. 

 West of the mouth of the Eio Grande the species has not been recorded, chiefly, no doubt, for 

 the reason that no explorations have been made along the shores of Mexico. The fish fauna 

 of the Caribbean coast of Panama has, however, been carefully studied, and this fish has not been 

 foujid. It is, therefore, probable that its range is as abruptly limited at the south, perhaps by the 

 peninsula of Yucatan, as it is in its northward extension. It is a noteworthy fact that Scicena 

 does not wander more; for every other species, I think without exception, which is abundant north 

 of Cape Hatteras, is occasionally met with in Buzzard's and Narragansett Bays, these two great 

 pockets in the coast-line of Southern New England in which are lodged so many of the straying 

 Southern marine animals. 



"This fish is very much in need of a characteristic name of its own. Its local names are all 

 preoccupied by other more widely distributed or better-known forms which seem to have substan- 

 tial claims of priority. In the Chesapeake, and south to below Cape Hatteras, it is called the 

 'Drum'; but its kinsman, Po^fomas chromis, is known by the same name throughout its whole 

 range from Provincetown to Texas, and is the possessor of a much larger and more resonant 

 musical organ. Some of the old writers coined names for it like 'Branded Drum,' referring to the 

 brand-like spots upon the tail, and 'Beardless Drum'; but these are valueless for common use, 

 like most other 'book-names.' In the Oarolinas, Florida, and the Gulf, we meet with the names 

 'Bass,' and its variations, 'Spotted Bass,' 'Red Bass,' 'Sea Bass,' 'Reef Bass,' and 'Channel Bass.' 

 Many persons suppose 'Channel Bass' to be a characteristic name, but this is a mistake, for the 

 term is applied properly only to large individuals which are taken in the channels of streams and 

 sounds; wherever this name is used, the smaller fish of the species are called simply 'Bass,' or 

 'School Bass'; even if the word 'Bass' could be so qualified as to be applicable to the species, 

 there is an insuperable objection to its use for any fish of this family. It is a modification of an 

 old Saxon word. Bears, or Baers; also found in German under the forms Bars and Barsch, from 

 which ' Perch ' and ' Bass ' are both evident developments. This name should evidently be retained 

 for the spiny-formed fishes of the perch tribe. I find in my note-book references to thirty-eight 

 distinct kinds of fish called by the name 'Bass,' with various prefixes, all of which are justly 

 entitled to bear this name. 



"'Spot' is another name erroneously applied to this fish, and which is the property of a much 

 smaller species of the same family, otherwise known as ' Lafayette,' or ' Cape May Goody.' 



" Finally, we have the ' Red Fish ' and ' Red Horse ' of Florida and the Gulf States, the ' Poisson 

 Rouge' of the Louisiana Creoles, and 'Pez Colorado' of the Mexicans. Although this name is 

 occasionally applied to a much redder fish, the Norway haddock, or red perch of the north, and 

 to the big labroid Trochocopus in California, it is perhaps the most characteristic one and 

 that most suitable for general use, especially if modified into 'Soathern Red Fish.' The chief 

 objection is that the fish is not always red; in the young there is not a suggestion of this color, 

 while in the adult it is more a tint, an evanescent, metallic reflection of claret from the scales, 

 which is often absent, and at all events soon disappears after life is gone. The number of spots on 

 the tail is variable ; sometimes there is one, sometimes eight or ten, and their arrangement is a 

 matter of chance; occasionally they are absent. 



"The Red Fish grows to a length of four or five feet and a weight of forty pounds or more. In 

 April, 1877, those to be seen in the markets of Jacksonville, Florida, ranged from one to four feet. 

 In the markets of Washington and New York strings of small ones are often seen. The average 

 size is perhaps ten pounds. 



