which is always black in color, often with a border of scarlet or blue. The yellowbelly of the South (_Lepomis auritus_), ear-like the showily colored long-eared sunfish (_Lepomis megalotis_) of the southwest, figured on page 2, Vol. I, the bluegill (_Lepomis pallidus_), abundant everywhere south and west of New York, are members of this genus. The genus _Eupomotis_ differs in its larger pharyngeals, which are armed with blunt teeth. The common sunfish, or pumpkinseed, _Eupomotis gibbosus_, is the most familiar representative of the family, abounding everywhere from Minnesota to New England, then south to Carolina on the east slope of the Alleghanies, breeding everywhere in ponds and in the eddies of the clear brooks. [Illustration: FIG. 235.—Blue-Gill, _Lepomis pallidus_ (Mitchill). Potomac River. ] [Illustration: FIG. 236.—Long-eared Sunfish, _Lepomis megalotis_ (Rafinesque). From Clear Creek, Bloomington, Indiana. Family _Centrarchidæ_. ] [Illustration: FIG. 237.—Common Sunfish, _Eupomotis gibbosus_ (Linnæus). Root River, Wis. ] =The Black Bass.=—The black bass (_Micropterus_) belong to the same family as the sunfish, differing in the larger size, more elongate form, and more voracious habit. The two species are among the most important of American game-fishes, abounding in all clear waters east of the Alleghanies and resisting the evils of civilization far better than the trout. The small-mouthed black bass, _Micropterus dolomieu_, is the most valuable of the species. Its mouth, although large, is relatively small, the cleft not extending beyond the eye. The green coloration is broken in the young by bronze cross-bands. The species frequents only running streams, preferring clear and cold waters, and it extends its range from Canada as far to the southward as such streams can be found. Dr. James A. Henshall, an accomplished angler, author of the "Book of the Black Bass," says: "The black bass is eminently an American fish; he has the faculty of asserting himself and of making himself completely at home wherever placed. He is plucky, game, brave, unyielding to the last when hooked. He has the arrowy rush and vigor of a trout, the untiring strength and bold leap of a salmon, while he has a system of fighting tactics peculiarly his own. I consider him inch for inch and pound for pound the gamest fish that swims."