1883.] TROUT BREEDING. 135 



them. They occupy the position among fishes that the spar- 

 row does among birds. I would like to know from some of 

 these gentlemen who have had experience, if there is any 

 way of eradicating them from our pouds. They are a perfect 

 nuisance. They have driven out the pickerel, they have 

 driven out, or are driving out the perch, and they certainly 

 have driven out the trout. 



Now, how are we going to increase our supply of trout in 

 our streams, unless we can overcome some of these difficul- 

 ties ? Here is the important matter in regard to increasing 

 our food supply of fish. 



Dr. Goodrich. In regard to the question, how to get rid 

 of the black bass, I will relate a little experience that I went 

 through at one time. I was over at our reservoir in Bolton, 

 at tlie fish-way, and I saw thousands of little black bass near 

 the shore. I scooped up several hundred, or perhaps a 

 thousand, put them into a pail, and brought tliem home, and 

 put them into a pond near my house. Those fish grew 

 nicely until they weighed from half a pound to a pound, 

 when there came the great freshet of 1869, which swept 

 through here and took away our dams, and cleaned out every 

 black bass we had. I have not seen any since. We have 

 got two of our ponds well stocked with perch, and I am well 

 satisfied with the change. 



Mr. Wetherell. I would like to hear from Dr. Sturte- 

 vant on the matter of black bass. 



Dr. Sturtevant. This is almost too large a subject to 

 talk of , because one can hardly express himself concisely with- 

 out creating an erroneous impression. Fishing has been a 

 favorite sport with me. For many years I have been a 

 frequenter of the New York and Maine woods, and not only 

 fishing as a sportsman, but studying the streams and study- 

 ing the fish. I have also been part and parcel of the enter- 

 prise looking to the stocking of some of the ponds in Massa- 

 chusetts with black bass. I have probably spent days lying 

 prone upon the banks of streams, watching the habits of fish ; 

 watching them spawn, and studying them in various ways. 



