BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES PISH COMMISSION. 197 



«S. TM « MPEt'lKS OF A.TflERK'AIV FI8H IN TBIE A<8UAKIl!TI OF TBIE 

 KOVAI. ZOOI.Of.aCAIi SOCIETY AT A1WSTEKI>AI?I.* 



Ill the ]SJetherlaiK]s slow but sure progress is being made both in arti- 

 ficial fish-cdlture and the matter of transporting living fisb from one 

 country to another. Exi)eriments have recently been made in trans- 

 porting such fish for a considerable distance ; and these experiments 

 have ]>roved entirely successful. The aquarium of the Koyal Zoologi 

 cal Society at Amsterdam can in this respect chronicle results which 

 /bust be called entirely satisfactory. jSTot oidy have different kinds of 

 fresh water fish been brought to the aquarium from Germany in per- 

 fectly sound condition, but also several kinds of foreign fish have been 

 raised in our aquarium and brought to a condition of complete sexual 

 maturity. Thus the Idus melanotus var. miniatns, a beautifully colored 

 variety of the Idus melanotus found in our rivers, which is found in 

 large numbers in the ponds of Diukelsbiihl in Bavaria, has spawned in 

 a basin of our aquarium, a circumstance which has thus far not occurred 

 in any other aquarium. At I'jreseut ten of these fish, hatched and raised 

 in our aquarium, are in the pouds of Mr. J. Noordhook Hegt's fish- 

 cultural establishment at Apeldoorn, and have there likewise propa- 

 gated their species. We desire, however, to call special attention to the 

 fact that two species of American fish have been successfully trans- 

 ported across the ocean and i)laced in the Amsterdam aquarium. These 

 two species of fish — namely, the American catfish and the American 

 black bass — will doubtless stock many of our waters which at present 

 contain scarcely any fish. 



The American catfish {Amiurus nehulosus or catus) belongs to the 81- 

 Inrus family, and is therefore related to our Slliiriis f/lanis, the only 

 variety of this fish found in Europe. This American cattish is originally 

 found in the Schuylkill, the Delaware, tlie Hudson, and the large lakes 

 of North America, but has also been transplanted to the Sacramento 

 River, in California. The catfish is a good article of food. Owing to 

 the transplanting of these fish to the Sacramento River large quantities 

 are now brought into the San Francisco market, where they have be- 

 come souj^ht after. The question has been asked whether it would be 

 desirable to acclimatize the catfish in Europe, esi^ecially as it has been 

 sufliciently proved in America that the catfish cannot be called a preda- 

 ceous fish in the full sense of the term, but lives both on animal and 

 vegetable food. 



*" Twee Amerikaansche viachsoorten in het Aquarium van het Koninklijk ZoiJlogisch Ge- 

 vootschap ^ Xafnra Artis Magintra^ teAmHlerdam." From the Orgaan d(rr Vereeniginq to* 

 Hevordcriug der Zoeticatervissclierij In Xedcrland [Jourual of lln^ Society lor tlio Pro- 

 motion oltlie Fresh-water Fisheries iu the Xetherlunds], Vol. I. Nos. 1 unci 2, Amster- 

 dam, December 4, 1885. Translated from the ]3utch by Hkrman Jacob.son. 



