160 
THE STRIPED BASSE. 
phical Society of the city of New York, says that Basse is a 
Dutch word, signifying perch. As there is a difference of 
opinion among the few American authors, in respect to this 
fish, we give their own words. 
Smith of Massachusetts, defines this species as the Stri- 
ped Basse , Rock Basse — Perea Labrax — (Lin. Scisena Bloch.) 
li On the sides are parallel lines, like narrow ribbons, eight 
in number, which give it the name of the striped basse: 
the scales are large, of a metallic lustre ; in the opper- 
culum, the middle plate is serrated ; the last portion of the 
third plate the gill cover, constituted of three pieces, has two 
nearly concealed spines. In the brancial membrane are 
seven rays ; pectoral, sixteen ; ventral, six ; dorsal, eight in 
the first, fourteen in the second ; anal fifteen, and in the can* 
dal 17 ; some of them in each fin, according to the size, it 
would appeal’, of the individual, arc stiff or spinous. 
“ Three or four of the stripes reach the tail, — the num- 
ber not always being constant ; and the remainder gradually 
disappear at different points on the abdominal walls ; the 
eyes are white, the head strikes one as being long, and the 
under jaw, as in the pike, juts beyond its fellow. Next to the 
mackerel, this is decidedly the handsomest of native fishes. 
“ Striped Bass, are a sea fish, and principally subsist near 
the mouths of rivers, up which they run as high as they caa 
conveniently go. During the approach of winter, instead of 
striking out into the deep water of the open ocean, like most 
other anadromous species, the basse finds a residence in 
ponds, coves, rivers, and still arms of the sea, where undis- 
turbed and comfortable, it remains till the following spring. 
The principal rivers in the state of Maine, as the Penobscot, 
&c., are the places where they are now* taken in the great- 
est abundance, and of the finest flavor and size. In all tko 
rivers, too, of Massachusetts, they are also found, at the in- 
* 1833. 
