TWENTY MONTHS OF STARVATION IN AMIA CALVA. 1 



W. M. SMALL WOOD. 



Early in October, 1911, the department of zoology received 

 for class work some forty live Amia from Alexander Nielson, 

 Venice, Ohio. At the conclusion of the course, there were six 

 live Amia that had not been used. These were left in the base- 

 ment aquarium room in a zinc tank into which a small stream of 

 the city water was allowed to flow continuously. The fish 

 received no attention. 



When college opened in the fall of 1911, the six fish were all 

 alive. During a warm spell in the fall two of them died. It 

 was thought wise to kill and fix the tissues of one of the remaining 

 four for study. This w r as done. In about a month, a third one 

 died. After this a careful watch was made to note the vigor of 

 the remaining two. In January, 1912, one of the remaining 

 Amia w r as killed and the tissues fixed for study. I was curious 

 to know how long the one remaining fish w^ould live. The 

 individual was a female and she continued to live week after 

 week until June 4, twenty months after being placed in the tank. 

 At this time, the fish had become so emaciated and weak that 

 the long tail would not stand upright and the fish swam feebly. 

 It seemed unwise to carry on the experiment longer for fear of 

 losing the opportunity of fixing the tissues for study. So far as 

 the writer is aware, this is the longest period that a vertebrate 

 has been without food while under direct observation. 



The first question to be answered is the organic content of the 

 water. Fortunately during this same period the department of 

 chemistry 2 was making frequent analyses of this same water 



1 Contributions from the Zoological Laboratory of Syracuse University, C. W. 

 Hargitt, director. 



2 The following analysis of the city water is approximately correct for the period 

 during which you were working with Amia calva. Of course, the chemical com- 

 position of any water varies not only from year to year but also from month to 

 month, so that the analysis given, while substantially correct, is not absolutely so. 

 The results are stated in parts per million. 



Solids 122 



453 



