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Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



Warsaw, Ind., March 14, 1884. 



Officers and Members of Cuvier Club, 



Cincinnati, Ohio. 



Gentlemen : 



We ship you per express this evening a Black Bass, caught by us with hook and 

 line on Pike Lake, Kosciusko County, Indiana, one half mile from Warsaw, the 

 county-seat, which weighs on three several scales 7^ lbs. 



We send the fish (packed in ice) to compete for premium of $100 offered by your 

 Club for a Black Bass caught with hook and line, weighing 7 lbs. 



Yours truly, 



, William Dormire. 

 Charles Burjrock. 



I replied to these gentlemen that the fish had been received, and I had 

 stuffed its skin- for the Club's Museum, and for so fine a specimen the Club 

 sent thanks, and I had eaten the meat and felt better afterward, though 

 I thought smaller fish were rather better than such large ones. I also 

 stated that the Club had not offered a reward for the destruction of 

 " Black Bass," and that the object of the Club was to increase rather than 

 diminish the supply of food-fishes. Though 1 don't think it would be safe 

 for me to go to Warsaw, Ind., yet I have not heard from the gentlemen 

 since. I have often thought that the "Oswego Bass" was only a race 

 produced by its surroundings. I never saw this form from the swift, 

 flowing waters of our rivers, nor the Small Mouthed Bass from the still, 

 dead water of the reservoirs. Some years ago, a pond in Avondale was 

 stocked with some Small Mouthed Black Bass from Lake Erie. After a 

 few years the owner of the pond moved away, and his successor did 

 not care much about fish ; so I went fishing in the pond, and all the fish 

 caught were the Large Mouthed or Oswego Bass. Several years ago. Boss 

 Lake, near Carthage, was stocked with genuine Small Mouthed Black Bass 

 from Lake Erie, and now not a single specimen of the "Small Mouthed 

 Bass" has been taken there, that I can hear of; all are the Large Mouthed 

 or Oswego Bass. Mr. Wm. Hall, who is an excellent judge in such mat- 

 ters, and who has caught a number of specimens from Boss Lake, says 

 they are all "Oswego Bass." I have heard of several isolated waters 

 being stocked with "Black Bass." and after a few years, when the fish re- 

 produced and were captured, all proved typical "Oswego Bass." This, 

 though negative, is very strong evidence that the Oswego is merely a still- 

 water race of the "Small Mouthed" species. 



Dr. Henshall considers these Bass the most gamey fish living. Their 

 voracity is astonishing. I have had the small three-inch specimens con- 

 fined in my aquariums swallow minnows so long they we're obliged to 

 swim about for nearly an hour with the victim's tail protruding from their 

 mouths, not being able to swallow the entire fish for want of capacity, and 

 the head had to be digested before the tail portion could all be taken in. 



