ALLEN: POLYODON SPATHULA 281 



Spawning Season. — In this locality the spawning of this species 

 occurs during the month of March, mainly from the first to the 

 middle of the month. I have never seen sexually mature Poly- 

 odon weighing less than 15 or 20 pounds and fish of this size are 

 rarety, if ever, taken by seining the sand and mud bars of the 

 rivers; they can, however, be obtained from the deep channel on 

 the Missouri side of the Mississippi, from Bird Point south, by 

 the use of hoop-nets. Floating ice prevented this mode of fishing 

 for the first week of March, 1904, but during the second week, 

 three mature females and several spent females were taken from 

 these nets, but no males. One of these females was tied out 

 from a fish wharf by a stout string attached to its tail, and the 

 other two were placed in a fish cage anchored to the wharf, with 

 the hope of keeping all three alive until a mature male could be 

 secured, but with the result that the one tied out with a string 

 was stolen and the two in the fish cage lived but four or five 

 days, dying doubtless from injuries received in vain attempts 

 to escape. Upon examining the eggs they appeared mature, 

 were black in color, and very closely resembled the eggs of 

 Acipenser and Lepisosteus. During the third week in March a 

 single mature male was obtained along with several spent fe- 

 males. I am unable to account for the scarcity of males during 

 the breeding season. 



From this time on most vigorous efforts were made to secure 

 the young of Polyodon by seining the small streams, sloughs, 

 overflow lakes, and the sand and mud bars of the two rivers with 

 a fine meshed seine, but not until July first were any located, 

 when some 25 specimens of from 4 to 6 inches in length were 

 caught from Minor Slough. This slough is located on the Ken- 

 tucky side, at the junction of the Ohio with the Mississippi. 

 It had been seined numerous times before this; in fact, the very 

 day before, but always with negative results. The previous day 

 (June 30) marked a high water stage of the rivers, and on July 

 first the rivers were beginning to recede rapidly, so that there was 

 a strong current in the outlet of the slough. The small Polyodon 

 obtained doubtless migrated from the river during the previous 

 night or early morning, when the water in the outlet could have 



