HABITS OF THE CALICO BASS. 407 



sometimes a weight of two pounds, although not usually weighing more than one pound. It is, 

 like its relatives, gamy, but it is not so voracious as most of them. The following notes on its 

 habits and value are from the pen of Professor Kirtland : 



"The 'Grass Bass' has not hitherto been deemed worthy of consideration by flsh-culturists; 

 yet, from a long and intimate acquaintance with its merits, I hesitate not to pronounce it the fish 

 for the million. It is a native of our Western rivers and lakes, where it usually resorts to deep 

 and sluggish waters; yet in several instances, where it has found its way into cold and rapid 

 streams, and even small-sized brooks, by means of the constructing of canals or by the hand of 

 man, it has adapted itself to the change, and in two or three years stocked to overflowing these 

 new locations. As a pan-fish, for the table, it is surpassed by few other fresh- water species. For 

 endurance and rapidity of increase it is unequaled. . . . The Grass Bass is perfectly adapted 

 to stocking ponds. It will thrive without care in very small ponds of sufdcient depth. ... It 

 will in nowise interfere with the cultivation of any number of species, large or small, in the same 

 waters. It wiU live harmoniously with all others, and while its structure and disposition restrain 

 it from attacking any other but very small fry, its formidable armature of spinous rays in the 

 dorsal and abdominal fins will guard it against attacks of even the voracious pike." ' 



The Ceappie — Pomoxys annularis. 



This species is commonly called " Crappie" in the valley of the Mississippi. Other names 

 are "Bachelor" in the Ohio Valley, "New Light" and " Campbellite " in Kentucky and Indiana, 

 "Sac-^-lait" and "Chinquapin Perch" in the Lower Mississippi. It is also often confounded with 

 the preceding species, and some of the names of the two are interchangeable. This species is not 

 often seen in the Great Lake region, but throughout the Lower Mississippi and its tributaries it 

 is very abundant. Its young swarm in all the muddy bayous along the rivers, and great numbers 

 of them are destroyed in the fall when these bodies of water dry up. With the exception of its 

 predilection for muddy waters, we know little in its habits distinctive from those of the Calico 

 Bass, and like the latter it is said to be an excellent fish for ponds. Both take the hook, feed 

 upon small fishes, crustaceans, etc., and both spawn in spring. 



136. THE SEA BASS— SERBANT7S ATRARIUS. 



The members of the Sea Bass family Serranidce, are similar in form and habits to the Perches, 

 from which they are distinguished by certain anatomical characters, scarcely tangible to persons 

 not experts in ichthyology. The family contains a very large number of species, some of which 

 are to be found in every part of the tropical and temperate seas. On our Atlantic coast there 

 are some twenty species, while in California there are four at least which are of economic 

 importance. Certain European members of this family are hermaphrodite, but there is as yet no 

 evidence that any American species is thus peculiar. 



The Sea Bass, Serranus atrarius, known south of Cape Hatteras as the "Blackfish," is the 

 most important species on our coast. In the Middle States the Sea Bass is called "Black WiU," 

 "Black Harry," and "Hannahills"; about Newport and New Bedford, "Bluefish," and at New 

 Bedford also "Eock Bass." Curiously enough, the Southern name, "Blackfish," is also in use 

 at Oak Bluff, Martha's Vineyard, and, it is said, also in New Jersey. In Gill's "Catalogue of the 

 Fishes of the East Coast" it is stated that the name "Black Bass" is also used for the fish, but 

 this usage has not yet fallen under my observation. 



Storer, in his "Fishes of Massachusetts," makes the statement that it is known as the "Black 



'American Sportsman, February 28, i874, quoted by Klippart, Eeport Ohio Fish Comm. for 1875-'76, p. 78. 



