510 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



IJur.v 29, 1880. 



A. B. 



hail a party, Consisting o£ Dr. anil Mrs. Everett rlci rick, 

 ami Mr. .hi. Kurd, pi New York. Tbev have made an 

 erage >l fifty fish during the past three .Jays. I could 

 report much larger scores if the weather had been plea- 

 sant. We have had rain and no wind for the past few 

 days, and it lias been difficult to get bait, and we ai'e 

 longer getting on the grounds. The old patrons of the 

 Riverside are" beginning to arrive daily, among whom are 

 Mr. W. ("'. Rogers and family, who will remain with us 

 till late in the' season. Also D. W. Lee and wife, Prof. 

 .A. M. Mayer and family, Everett Herrick and wife. I 

 would also wish to inform others of our patrons who 

 have mil .as yet been here that Mr. A. H. Corwiu, who 



connected with it, but that it is under the direct super- 

 vision of the owner, Cbas. A. Smith, which is a sufficient 

 guarantee to those who know him, thatthohouse will be 

 better kept than ever before, 



BLACK BASS VS. GREEN BASS. 



Editor Forest and Stream :— 



It is at a sacrifice of time, taste and inclination that I 

 notice the communication of "St. Clair," on "Black Bass 

 I». Trout." in FOBE§T AND Stkea.m, of July 15th. I feel 

 led to do so, however, in justice to myself, inas- 

 much as lie. indirectly, by implication and innuendo, 

 !:: fges me with mendacity and misrepresentatii 



"St.. Clair" begins his article by saying : "Finding in 

 '.in issues of Forest ahd Stream the old controversy 

 revived aneut black bass and trout, and finding also some 

 rather peremptory and unpleasant doubts from Dr. Hen- 

 sha.ll and other gentlemen concerning former articles 

 written by myself for your paper ('Black Bass' and 'Black 

 I'.iipk. Pishing'), I must ask you to hear me. 



Now the fact is. I have never given "St, Clair" or his 

 articles a second thought since 1 read them on their ap- 

 pearance, two years ago. I have never alluded to them 



i ii shape or manner, or expressed any doubts — "pe- 

 remptory," "unpleasant," or otherwise — in regard to 

 them. 



A reference to his articles, at this writing, confirms the 

 impression made upon my mind at the time of their first 

 perusal, viz.: that they were indisputably outre, and con- 

 tained statements in regard to the black bass that were 

 unmistakably rash, inconsistent and erroneous, and 

 which stamp their author as being rather Quixotic and 

 opinionated. 1 remember he was quite eager for a war 

 of words with some one or any one in defense of his 

 nnicpie views, and "tlvrew down the gage of battle," and 

 offered to "break lances" with any gentleman upon the 

 subject." 



To my mind he seemed firmly entrenched in a "rut" 

 on tin' question of the identity of the black bass, out of 

 which it would have been a work of supererogation to 

 have tried to extricate him by arguments ; formyimpres 

 Bion, based upon hie dogmatic stvle. was that though con- 

 vinced, he would be "of his own opinion still." No doubt 

 .uiv impressions were shared hy others, for, so far as 1 

 know, no one took up the offered" gage of battle. That it 

 wiould have been futile to have done so has since been 

 proven, and my predilections have thus been confirmed ; 

 for several of our ablest practical ichthyologists subse- 

 quently published in Forest and Stream forcible and 

 convincing articles on the identity and nomenclature of 

 the black bass, notably those of Profs. Theo. Gill and D. 

 S. Jordan. Prof. Jordan's paper, especially, covered 

 the whole ground, reviewing the matter from the first 

 description of the black bass by Lacepede down to the 

 present time. 



But all in vain. "St. Clair's" faith in his own opinions 

 on the subject remain unshaken ; for in his last article 

 he seems to be only willing that the mountain shall come 

 to turn, for he expresses uo inclination to go to the moun- 

 tain. He is apparently as firmly rooted to his previous 

 convictions as Rhodorick Dhu to his rock, and states 

 positively that he alone is right in the matter, and that 

 all others of a contrary opinion are wrong, in the follow- 

 ing piam language :— 



r 1 wan I Ui.. . ; ii. - ion set at rest. It shall be set at rest, 



forevui. Ir Ik true that we have a fish at the South oil -i in ,u. 

 whieli, lose, i i 'hi ! , .1 . .;•. vers mid [,, those who arc not to the 

 "manor bum, look like blaok bam ♦ * bin which are no more 

 iss i nan They art salmon. There never was a black bass 

 in Any stream thai empties iutn 1 lie Atlantic south of Maryland. 

 :i In ii. never will be. Misled by a similarity of mouth, and, 

 to some extent, form, many well meaning but mistaken persons 

 call our jrrcei: bass black bass. Many Soiithui-iiers call them 

 on a I, and trout, they will be with them until the end of time. 

 7 words: we have no black bass In the South, and no 



jqu 



is be stronger? 

 should be 



Now if it is really 

 set at rest by one to 

 then for the sake of science let him 

 or, if he bo already born, let him be 

 if necessary, for it seems that the efforts 



■oak bass, 

 essential that ti 



the " manor bo. 

 be born quickly 



of all others have been unavailing, in the estimation of 

 "St. Clrur." But lot us see what such " superficial ob- 

 servers" and 'well meaning but mistaken" persons, as 

 Prtifs. Agassi/.. Gill, Jordan and Cope (who have been 

 " misled by a similarity of mouth, and, to some extent, 

 form"), have to say about the matter. 



I will, however, premise by stating the fact, that the 

 first scientific description of the black: bass was made by 

 Lacepede, a celebrated French naturalist, in 1800. His 

 description was based upon a drawing and description of 

 the " Southern iresh water trout" sent to him by M. 

 Bosc from South Carolina, labelled " trout perch ; "'this 

 he called Labrns scdmoides, or the " trout-like ba»s." 

 which specific name (salmoides) is retained bo this day 

 for one species of the black bass. Lacepede afterwards 

 received a. specimen of this same "Carolina trout," 

 but -which had a deformed dorsal tin, its latter portion 

 being separated by an injury from I he balance of the fin ; 

 on account of this peculiarity (the little fin), he named it 

 Micropterus dototiiteu— "Dolomieu's small lin," in honor 

 of his friend Doloioieu : and rhjs generic name {Miarop- 

 tents) is retained to the present day for the genus black 

 bass. Cneier subsequently identified the latter specimen 



us belonging to the genus (Jrystei 

 with Labi us salmoides. Cuvierna 



Mies, but theo] I 

 restored, ana this species— the si 

 now known as Mtarqptenu saimoi 

 ■dan, when in Europe, a 

 original specimen sent to Lacepe 



id 

 lthis 



dentieaJ 

 s (Jri/s- 

 epeae was finally 

 aoitthed bass — is 

 Prof. D. F. Jor- 

 i,o, examined the 

 inch is still pre- 



the Museum d'liibtoire Nature! le at Paris, and 

 i it as a small-mouthed black bass, lie 

 ils.0 frilly identified the specimens sent to Cuvior and 



Valenciennes by Milbert, front New York, ajad Le Sueur, 

 from the Wabash River, Indiana. 



Thus we see that the genus Micropenis (black bass) 

 was founded upon the Southern " trout," and, moreover, 

 upon that particular species of "trout" or black bass 

 (the small-mouthed i which is held by many, both North 

 and South, to be the only true, real, Simon-pure, clear- 

 quill, original Jacobs black bass ; they regarding the 

 large-mouthed black bass (M. pallidas) as the " off-ox," 

 or "lest -handed " black bass. 



Yet " St. Clair" denies that either species of Southern 

 " trout " is the black bass, and furthermore declares that 

 the black bass does not exist in Southern waters. Now 

 let us see what this denial amounts to : — 



In 1873, Prof. Theo. Gill, at the request of Prof. S. F. 

 Baird, United States Pish Commission, thoroughly inves- 

 tigated the genus Micropenis to determine the. number 

 of species. After examining specimens from the Great 

 Lake3 (Champlain to Michigan), the States of New- York, 

 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, 

 Missouri, Tennessee. Alabama, Texas, "Wisconsin, West 

 Virginia, Virginia, North and South Carolina and Geor- 

 gia ; and after a thorough investigation of the specimens 

 in their morphological and anatomical features, he says : 

 "No differences could be found much, if any, greater 

 than such as could be detected among numerous individ- 

 uals front any given locality." And further : " No devi- 

 ations have been found, from the ordinary standard, of 

 such a character as at all to compare, for example, with 

 the differences between the large mouthed and small- 

 mouthed forms, or to indicate that there are any specific 

 dilTerences among the small-mouthed or large-mouthed 

 forms." Prof. GUI's monograph, embodying these re- 

 sults, is published in the "Proceedings of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science," Vol, 

 XXII, 1874, pp. 55-72. 



Prof, Agassiz, in 1854, identified the " trout " from the 

 Tennessee River in Alabama, as a black bass, which he 

 named, provisionally, Grystes nobilis. This was a large- 

 mouthed bass. 



Prior to 1870, Prof. E. D. Cope took and identified the 

 large-mouthed black bass in the Catawba, Neuse, Great 

 Peace and Santee rivers in North Carolina ; these streams 

 all flowing into the Atlantic. 



In 1877, Prof, Jordan and his assistants, A. W. Bray- 

 ton and C. H. Gilbert, fished the streams of the Alleghany 

 region of South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, most 

 of wliich were the headwaters of rivers emptying into 

 the Atlantic. Prof. Jordan published the results of these 

 investigations in his " Contributions to N. A. Ichthyol- 

 ogy "No. 3, in " Bulletin of IT. S. National Museum," 

 XII., 1878, from which I select the following quota- 

 tions : — 



" Prof . Cope obtained this species (Jlf, paUidus) in the 

 Catawba. We collected none in the Saluda or Ennoree, 

 but^we were told that 'trout,' as the species of Microp- 

 terus are universally called in the South, are frequently 

 taken there." Page 15. 



" This species (M. salmoides) is abundant in the tribu- 

 taries of the Savannah, where it is known as the ' trout."' 

 Page 31. 



" Abundant (M. salmoides) in the Oconee and Ocmul- 

 gee." Page 35. 



"Not very abundant" (M. poiUdus), Chattahooche 

 River. Page 40. 



"Very common" (M. salmoides), Chattahooche River, 

 Page 40. 



"Abundant" (M, pcdUdus), in Etowah, Coosa and 

 Oostanaua rivers. Page 46. 



(M. salmoides), in Etowah, Coosa and Oostanaula. 

 "Abundant; but less so than the preceding (M, paUi- 

 dus). The two species are known indiscriminately as 

 •trout.'" Page 40, 



"The 'white trout,' as this species (M. pallidas) is 

 often called, is common in the Cumberland." 



"The 'black trout' (M, sahaoides) occurs with the 

 preceding (M, paUidus), ami is still more abundant." 



In Prof. Jordan's " Fishes of Upper Georgia," in the 

 "Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History," 

 vol. xi., 1877, page 314, he says of M. pallidw;— 



••Abundant in the Etowah. Oostanaula and Coosa Riv- 

 ers, rather more so than the next species (M. salmoides), 

 and everywhere confounded with it under the name of 

 trout." 



Now, if this evidence is not conclusive and convinc- 



g to "St. Clair," that the "trout" iB the black bass, 

 id exists in the streams of his own and other- Southern 

 States, he is not open to conviction. 



"St. Clair" further says : — 



As the (line has surely come In our natural history that we 

 mst be accurate in our nomenclature, we beg to state our belief 



tat our Hah ought to be called 'green bass. 1 Different in ann- 



tomieal structure, different inline, different in times and modes 

 or feeding, our green bass are not black bass, but. au entirely dif- 

 ferent UBh. 



To which I reply that there is no essential difference, 

 anatomically or physiologically, between the black bate 

 and what he calls " green bass " (trout). He proposes to 

 call the Southern trout " green bass," color seeming to 

 be, to him, the distinguishing characteristic, for he speaks 

 of black, green and yellow bass. But this will not an- 

 swer. Color is of very little importance in the differen- 

 tiation of the species of iVie/'Optents, for they are of all 

 colors, black, green, yellow and white ; and it is this 

 rery confusing style of nomenclature that needs tone 

 •efomied. The genus is called "black bass" because 

 that seems to be the most universal common name for it, 

 therefore, the one to be adopted ; without reference, 

 however, to the term " black " as a distinguishing color. 

 In the same way that a blackberry is a blackberry. 

 though it is green when it is red— this, although seem- 

 ingly paradoxical, is a fact which we all understand. 

 Some of the " blackest " bass I ever saw were in South- 

 ern waters, and were, of course, called " trout." 



Then again both species of Micropterus are indiscrimi- 

 nately called "trout" in the South, when they should 

 be distinguished as the large-mouthed and srnall-niouthed 

 black bass. It must be evident to any one, even to ' • St. 

 Clair," that this is the only practical and sensible plan of 

 nomenclature ; for the term " trout," as applied to a per- 

 coid fish, is ridiculous. And then the term -green bass " 

 is of ten applied to the large-mouthed bass in the North- 

 - -est m contradistinction to the small-mouthed bass, 



diich is there known as the black bass. Now, ii 

 "green bass P was applied indiscriminately to either Or 

 both species of Southern "trout " what inextricable con- j 

 fusion woidd ensue, 



"St. Clair'' has repeatedly stated what the bin 

 not, but has neglected to tell us what the black bass is, 

 unless he does so m the second paragraph of his last 

 article, when he says : — 



In 



mid 



Now, as " St. Clair " tacitly admits in this same article 

 that the " Southern trout " is HI. salmoides or M. paUidus, 

 we must conclude that by C. atrarius he menus the 

 "black bass;" for what in t lie world Ccutroprislis alra- 

 rius has to do with the matter I can't imagine, unless we 

 take this view of it. If he really holds the C. atrarius 

 to be the "black bass," then the whole matter is ex- 

 plained, It is simply another case of mistaken identity, 

 and he has, for the first lime, furnished the key to his 

 peculiar views. But the Centropristis atrarius really 

 has no more to do with the black baas i Micropterus) thaii 

 the black snapper or the black grouper, The 0. ulrarius 

 is a true marine fish of the Atlantic coast, generally 

 known as the " sea bass." though in a few places along 

 the coast is locally known as black sea bass, black will, 

 black perch and black fish, and it was formerly called, on 

 a portion of the Jersey coast, "black btss," though tin's 

 in" has fallen info disuse since the introduction of the 

 black bass proper into the inland waters of that State. 



But upon reading the third paragraph of " St, Clair's" 

 article we are all at sea again, with the rudder unshipped, 

 for he tells us there that " they exist side by side in some 

 streams, but in no Southern stream. They can be found 

 in Kentucky and Missouri together, and even in Tennes- 

 see, in waters that empty into the Ohio, but in no others." 

 No, he cannot mean C. ulrarius, the sea bass, for it ex- 

 ists in no inland streams, and — what can he mean? I 

 give it up. 



If "St. Clair" really wishes to be set right in this mat- 

 ter there is a royal road open to him. Let him send 

 specimens of "Southern trout," or, as he calls them, 

 "green bass," in alcohol to Profs. Baird, Gill or Goode, 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, or to Prof. E. D. Cope, 

 of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, or to 

 anv other naturalists whom he considers the "best in- 

 formed ichthyologists in the United States," with the re- 

 quest to identify and name the same, and if they do not 

 pronounce them black bass (Micropterus) I will admit 

 that "St. Clair" is the "best informed ichthyologist in 

 the world," so far as the black bass is concerned. So 

 much for the "black bass." 



And now lot us see how reliable "St. Clair" is upon other 

 Southern game fishes. In the last paragraph of his article 

 he states that there are no rock bass in the South except 

 in one, tributary of the Flint River. In a former article 

 he said it existed in three streams emptying into Flint 

 River (perhaps he has caught them all out, of the other 

 twoi. Now- what are the facts r Prof. Jordan and his 

 assistants took and identified the rock bass (AmblopHtea 

 rupestris) in tributaries of the Chattahoochee, Alabama, 

 Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, where they were 

 "abundant." 



"St. Clair" further says : "Dr. Henshall speaks of the 

 striped bass (Roecusehrysops) as never weighing over two 

 pounds," He does not give me even the benefit of the 

 saving clause, Pinaforically speaking, of "hardly over ;" 

 but, having set up this man of straw, he proceeds to be- 

 labor it. and infers, "from these data" that I never saw 

 a fresh water striped bass 1 Now this is the. "most un- 

 kindest cut of all," to use a garbled quotation for such 

 an inference. What I really did say, ami. like Jack 

 Bunsby, "what I says I sticks to," was that the weight 

 of lioccus ehrysops "seldom exceeds two or three 

 pounds." If I had placed the maximum weight at three 

 pounds it would have been entirely correct, for it is the 

 fact. I have caught thousands of these pan fish in the 

 lakes of the Northwest, and generally to my great dis- 

 gust and annoyance when angling for black bass. I 

 have also taken' them in "Green River," Kentucky. But 

 they •■seldom exceeded I wo or three pounds, never 

 reaching five pounds in weight. 



While 1 do not doubt that "St, Clair" caught one weigh- 

 ing nine pounds (in a former article he placed it tit, seven 

 pounds ; perhaps by next year it will grow to eleven, for 

 it is evident from these various statements that it was 

 weighed in its own scales), the mere statement of the 

 fact amounts to nothing in science ; even if he had pro- 

 served the specimen— as any naturalist would have done- 

 it won hi still amount to nothing as estabn'shing the 

 maximum weight of the species. It was simply a mon- 

 strosity, an exception to the general rule, as is, indeed, a 

 five pound white bass. 1 have seen a steer that weighed 

 upwards of 5,000 pounds, a mule nineteen and a halt 

 hands high ; a hog that weighed 1,300 pounds ; a man 

 seven and a half feet tall ; a woman balance the scales 

 at 700 pounds ; a six-legged calf : the Siamese twins ; 

 and a double headed girl ; hut what do they all prove V 

 Nothing. They are simply exceptions to a general rule — 

 monstrosities, 



This plan of conducting a case, by presenting the ar- 

 guments of the opposing side in a distorted, incomplete, 

 or garbled form, and then, 'Quixote-like, booted and 

 spurred, with lance in poise, making a terrific onslaught 

 on the windmill of his own creation, is one much prac- 

 ticed by the average village lawyer, and is styled "petti- 

 fogging." I take it that "St. Clair" is a lawyer, tor he 

 put words into my mouth that I never used, and mis- 

 quoted my printed "statements. 1 therefore excuse him 

 upon the ground of force of habil , and cheerfully exon- 

 eiate him from all seemingly sinister motives. 



Perhaps he thought I was making light of the fresh 

 water striped base, for he seems to feel a fatherly and 

 proprietary interest in this fish, as he says :— 



"I believe 1 first had the honor, through the solicita- 

 tion of Chas. Hallock, Ksq., former editor of Forest 

 aku Stream, of introducing the fresh water striped bass 

 to the notice of the public.' 1 



Oh, no, "St. Clair:" it was first described and "intro- 

 duced to the public" by Raflnesque, in 1830, probably be- 

 fore you were born ; and it still retains the specific name 

 , which he bestowed upon it. He caught his 

 specimen in Kentucky waters, too. It has been a. well- 

 known pan fish ever since, being vety abundant in the 

 great lakes and lakelets of the Northwest, but hat; never, 

 been considered much of a fish, except by juvc 

 lers. Its praises are yet to be sung. 



Finally, as examples of "St. piaii s " ay a I em ol 

 Curate tfon i rates the Southern game 



