232 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



dispersal of the school, unless food of an acceptable kind be present in abundance, 

 an adult bass does not stop to examine the birth-marks of a straggling- youngster 

 who may cross his path. There can be no question but that the largest part of the 

 young so zealously guarded early in the season later furnish food for some adult bass, 

 possibly its own progenitor. Again, the bass are like the trout in that every school 

 furnishes its examples of giants, which make short work of their weaker brethren. 

 In the autumn sorting of the spring crop, left undisturbed through the summer in the 

 nursery pond, three and sometimes four sizes of young bass will be found, the largest 

 of which show by their very size they have been guilty of fratricide. 



Propagating ponds. — The Missouri Fish Commission, in their report for 1885-86, 

 recommend for ordinary pond culture stocking on the basis of three males and three 

 females per acre. In their propagating ponds in Forest Park they formerly used 75 

 breeders for a lake of 3£ acres, though last year they employed 100 males and 100 

 females for the same lake. So far as I have been able to determine, Mr. W. C. Ger- 

 main, an employe of the Missouri Fish Commission, was the first to copy from the 

 German carp-culturists the method of transferring young bass to nursery ponds. 

 Mr. Charles Wilinot, superintendent of fish-culture for the Dominion of Canada, 

 recommends the opposite course of removing the breeders after the nests are hatched 

 out. This latter method is open to objection in that it is difficult to capture the 

 breeders without injury either to them or their young. 



Spawning pond. — With my present information I recommend the following course: 

 Let the spawning pond be built so that at least one-fourth of it will have a depth 

 ranging from feather edge to 1 foot deep. In this portion of the pond plant rota 

 mogeton to facilitate the propagation of Crustacea to furnish food for the young bass 

 which will escape the net in the process of transferring from the spawning pond to 

 the rearing pond. The remainder of the pond should have a gradually sloping 

 bottom, and consequent increase of depth, to the kettle (or draw off), where the water 

 should be at least 3 feet deep for the warm Southern States and 12 to 14 feet deep for 

 the Northern States or Canada. In the middle third of the pond plant lilies, preferably 

 those having the largest pads. These will not only furnish the breeding fish with a 

 place to hide from the fishhawks, but also serve as sunshades during' the summer. 



Preparation and management of spawning pond. — Clean gravel ranging from the 

 smallest shot to hazelnut size should be provided in the pond. The disposition of this 

 gravel is a matter of some importance. I prefer it put in water from 18 inches to 3 

 feet deep and near the pond bank. As before stated, the fish will not always use the 

 gravel, but the majority will. By putting the gravel near banks, and so inducing the 

 fish to make their nests there, the entire process of spawning and incubation is under 

 easier observation, and labor and time are saved in transferring the young. More- 

 over, if it is desirable to remove a nest 10 feet or more from the bank it can be done 

 only by wading into the pond. This is not only awkward work but it disturbs the 

 otlier fish at a time when nature is demanding the greatest degree of quiet. Put the 

 gravel about 5 or 6 feet from the banks in a number of small heaps. When the bass 

 commence nest-building the attendant will do well to keep the pond and its contents 

 under constant surveillance. Maintain a close watch for fishhawks and herons; 

 but frogs, snakes, and turtles getting into the pond just now need occasion no imme- 

 diate alarm. A few years since 1 disturbed a snake, which, running into the pond, 

 crossed the dead line of a bass nest. Quick as a Hash the bass had his snakeship by 



