104 AMERICAN ANfiLER'S BOOK. 



covered at its base with scales, and has fifteen rays, preceded 

 by an obtuse spine of half their length ; this fin is arched, and 

 rounded posteriorly. The pectorals beginning immediately 

 beneath the point of the opercle are yellow, nearly obovate 

 in shape, and have eighteen rays. Yentrals commencing 

 slightly posteriorly, have five branched rays. The anal 

 terminating beneath the posterior point of the second dorsal, 

 has two sharp, and one longer obtuse spine, and twelve 

 branched rays. The caudal is very slightly forked, and has 

 eighteen rays. 



The specimen which the wood-cut at the head of this 

 article represents, and from which my description was taken, 

 was caught early in September near Eouse's Point, on Lake 

 Champlain. I have been particular in my description, and 

 find it diflfers from that of Agassiz and De Kay ; from the 

 former, in the color, spines, and fin rays. The difference of 

 color I attribute to the season of the year, or some local cause. 



I regret that my sketch, which is accurate as regards 

 proportions, does not do justice to the original in other 

 respects. The specimen was fourteen and a half inches long, 

 and about two pounds in weight ; one of four pounds taken 

 on the same day, measured only eighteen inches. 



There is some difference between this fish and his Southern 

 congener ; he is much stouter, and not as symmetrical in his 

 proportions ; his habits and manner of taking the bait are 

 much the same, but his haunts — from the difference in the 

 waters which he inhabits — are necessarily unlike the lurking- 

 places of the Southern Bass. The Black Bass of the Lakes 

 loves the rocky shores of the islands, the sand-bars, and reefs. 

 He takes a live minnow in still-fishing, which is by far a 

 more sportsmanlike mode of capturing him than trolling 

 with the spoon,* though the latter is the method most in 



* Buel's patent is most generally used. 



