202 STEIPED BASS. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



STEIPED BASS. 



Labrax Lineatus — Rock-fish of Pennsylvania and the 

 South — Perca Labrax (Smith) — Sciena Lineata (Black.) 



This fish, which has a large number of scientific names 

 and several popular ones, belongs to the Perch family, 

 has two spines on the after part of the gill-cover, and the 

 margin of the fore gill-cover rough like the edge of a 

 saw. Its color is bluish on the back, light on the sides, 

 and white on the belly. The sides are marked by seven 

 to nine longitudinal dark lines, from which its name is 

 derived, the upper of which reach the tail, but the lower 

 fade out above the anal fin. These lines sometimes are 

 broken or consist of contiguous dots. The ventral fins 

 are below and somewhat behind the pectorals, and have 

 the first rays spinous. The fore part of the dorsal has 

 nine spiny rays, and at the interval between that and the 

 after part there is another small hard ray, while the after 

 part is composed, of twelve soft rays. The pectorals 

 have sixteen soft rays, the ventrals one hard and five 

 soft, the anal three hard and eleven soft, and the tail 

 seventeen soft rays. 



Whether the name Bass means Perch or not, I cannot 

 say, although there is no such tradition among my 

 Dutch ancestry, and I am unable to find the word in 



