BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 115 



the young fry have an invariable tendency to follow the outward current, 

 and do not collect at the inlet of the pond. If you have room, in con- 

 structing your ponds, to have an overflow from the breeding-pond to a 

 smaller one, all the young fry will naturally collect in the smaller pond 

 without handling, and thus save considerable trouble. 

 Indianapolis, Ind., June 29, 1882. 



It is usually the case that thousands of small black bass are taken 

 with hook and hue near here in the fall of the year. I think they are 

 fish two years old, and shall give instructions to one of my corporals 

 to catch all he can and put in my ponds; besides, if the streams get 

 very low, as they usually do in the summer months, they may be able 

 to get quite a large number of small fry with the minnow-net. It would 

 do your eyes good to see the yearlings feed upon small minnows and 

 angleworms. They are great pets, and afford me much pleasure. 



Indianapolis, Ind., June 30, 1882. 



I placed the bass in the pond for the sole purpose of noticing them 

 during the breeding season, but the water in the pond was so crowded 

 with a growth of algae that my observations have not been satisfactory. 

 I think the female prepares the spawning ground or bed, after which 

 the male joins her. Whilst the female is preparing the bed the males 

 fight with each other for possession. (The fish alluded to in my letter 

 of May 15 died from effects of injury received in a free fight; he was 

 injured about the head, and in a few days was covered with a white 

 fungus, which proved fatal.) The male presses the roe from the female 

 by a series of bites or pressures along her belly with his mouth, the 

 female lying upon her side during the operation. The" male ejects the 

 milt upon or over the roe from time to time, and the spawning process 

 lasts for two or three days.* When the spawning is over the male dis- 

 appears from the scene, and the female remains upon the nest extremely 

 pugnacious, allowing nothing to approach until the eggs have hatched 

 and the young fry are a week or ten days old. The young fish com- 

 mence at once to prey upon each other and continue until they are two 

 or three weeks old, when cannibalism ceases and there is no more danger 

 from that source. The shallow ditch was a good arrangement; by cov- 

 ering the ditch with a layer of brush the young fry were well protected 

 from all kinds of birds. I think frogs destroy a great many young fish, 

 and should always be destroyed as far as possible. I am satisfied that 

 with the final arrangement adopted, that of having one end of the pond 

 partitioned off, with openings so that the small fry can pass freely back 

 and forth, and with the trough-screen for overflow, better results can be 

 reasonably expected. If I remain at the arsenal I intend to repeat the 

 experiment. 

 Haddam, Conn., September 21, 1882. 



*I first advanced this idea in Forest and Stream, in an article signed "Gringo," and 

 afterwards saw a confirmation of the same by Mr. Geo. C. Kixford, of Rixford, Fla. 



