her the so-called
Otsego bass is to be regarded as a distinct species. Louis Agassiz, the
highest authority of his time, after careful analysis pronounced the
Otsego bass to be "in its organic structure a distinct fish, not found
in any other waters of the world." In 1915 Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, the New
York State fish culturist, declared that the so-called Otsego bass "is
merely the common Labrador whitefish which has become dwarfed in size by
some peculiarities of its habitat." De Witt Clinton, a former governor
of New York, wrote the first scientific description, accompanied by a
drawing, of this fish, which he called "the Salmo Otsego, or the Otsego
Basse."[122] At the time when Clinton wrote, the whitefishes were
placed in the genus Salmo. In 1911, in the bulletin of the United States
bureau of fisheries,[123] Dr. Evermann asserted concerning Clinton's
drawing of Otsego bass, which he had examined, that "the cut, although
crude, plainly shows _Coregonus clupeaformis_. The form is elliptical,
and the back shows the dark streaks along the rows of scales usually
characteristic of that species." The same author, in collaboration with
Dr. Jordan,[124] says concerning the common whitefish: "This species,
like others of wide distribution, is subject to considerable variations,
dependent upon food, waters, etc. One of these is the so-called Otsego
bass, var Otsego (Clinton), a form landlocked in Otsego Lake at the head
of the Susquehanna River."

There are Otsego fishermen who are not impressed by this array of
learning, and still insist that the Otsego bass is quite different from
any other fish in the world. The _Otsego Farmer_ in 1915 summed up the
matter thus: "Otsego bass is not what is ordinarily termed whitefish,
but is probably a species of the same family. As a matter of fact,
Otsego Lake has been stocked with whitefish fry from the Great Lakes,
and now the nets of fishermen are always filled with a mixture of
whitefish and Otsego bass. Whatever Dr. Bean may think about it, any
Otsego Lake fisherman can tell the difference, and any epicure having
once tasted Otsego bass is never again deceived by whitefish."

A view which seems to reconcile these diverse opinions is that of
Alexander S. Phinney, the most famous amateur fisherman of Otsego at the
beginning of the twentieth century. He holds that Otsego bass is quite
distinct from whitefish, but believes that the true Otsego bass has
disappeared, giving place to a hy