756 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



and the larger portion of the fish stuck in the lower half of the oesoph- 

 agus, 1 as there was no room for it in the stomach. From the charac- 

 ter of the skeleton, I feel justified in inferring that the fish was a Cobitis 

 barbatula, which, like the trout, loves clear running water. 



Quite recently, (I Oth June, 1874,) I succeeded, through the kindness of 

 a friend, in getting six stomachs of trout which had been caught in the 

 Kyll near Gerolstein. The examination of the stomach and entrails 

 showed entirely different results from those of trout which had been caught 

 during the spawning-season. In the first, I found four cases of Phry- 

 ganidw, which were shorter and thinner than those which I had obtained 

 in winter; in the second, I found one hundred and thirty-six such cases, 

 one insect, (half digested,) one dragon-fly's wing, and the remains of a 

 fish ; in the third, five hundred and eighty-five (!) cases, one insect, and the 

 scale of a fish ; in the fourth, one hundred and sixteen cases, one insect, 

 and the remains of a fish ; in the fifth, one hundred and eighty-six 

 cases and the flower of a graminaceous plant ; in the sixth, one hun- 

 dred and fifteen cases, a small caterpillar, a number of fish-eggs, and 

 the lower half of a small fish about four inches in length. The cases 

 of the Phryganidse were found in all the stomachs, and also in the 

 entrails; in one, the intestinal canal as far as the anus was completely 

 stuffed with these cases. I should expressly state that all these six fishes 

 were well fed. 



It follows from this that the trout takes much more food before than 

 during the spawning-season, but that even during that season its 

 chief food does not consist of small fish but of insects and their larvse. 

 I draw from this the further conclusion that the quality of the flesh of 

 the trout does not deteriorate by this insect- diet, but that the delicacy 

 of its flavor is heightened. 



The results of these investigations therefore in general agree with the 

 statements of other authors. Giinther 2 says : " The trout is a very 

 voracious fish, and its food consists, besides insects, their larvae, and 

 worms, particularly (?) of young fish." Valenciennes, 3 Heclcel* and Kner 

 make similar statements. 



If from these investigations I now draw a conclusion as to whether 

 the fishing for " Eiimpchen" is injurious or not, I find that among the 

 fifty-three trout which had been caught during the spawning-season 

 there were three which had eaten fish, and among the six caught before 

 the spawning-season there were four whose stomachs contained remains 

 of fish. The fish, at any rate, formed but a very small portion of the 

 food. If I now assume as highly probable that these fish belonged to 



1 " This part of the digestive organs lying immediately in front of the first curvature 

 takes the part of a stomach, and digestion in it becomes far advanced." — Kner, " Ueber 

 die Miigen und Blinddiirme der Salmoniden," in the " Sitzungsberichte der Kaiser- 

 lichen Akademie der Wissenschaften," vol. viii t 1852, p. 203. 



2 Giinther, Die Fische des Neckars, Stuttgart, 1853, p. 116. 



3 Valenciennes, op. cit., p. 330. 



4 Bedel and Kner, op. cit., p. 252. 



