THE BLACK BASSES. 59 



told, sometimes anticipate the ordinary season, while many late spawners 

 are occupied with family cares until the last of July, and some young fish 

 are not ready until October and November. After the spawning is over 

 the Bass are "in season." They take the hook eagerly from July till 

 November. In the winter they are lank and black, though in season till 

 the ice comes. 



Concerning their spawning habits, Mr. Hallock, of the Blooming Grove 

 Association, wrote in 1875 : "Four years ago, one hundred and thirteen 

 Black Bass from Lake Erie were placed in Lake Giles, and their progeny 

 has increased so fast as to insure good sport to the angler at any time. 

 The late spawners are now (early July) in the gravel beds, in the shallow 

 waters .along shore, protecting either their spawn or their newly-hatched 

 fry, as the case may be. It is interesting to note the pertinacity with 

 which they guard their precious charges, and the vigor with whicli they 

 drive away depredators and intruders of all kinds. They will frequently 

 allow a boat to pass over them, scarcely six inches above their backs, and 

 obstinately keep their ground. Sun-fish and such are compelled to keep 

 their distance. There are hundreds of these bowl-shaped excavations, 

 eighteen inches or so in diameter, all along the sandy shallow shores of 

 this lake, which is very clear, and in the center some seventy feet deep, 

 fed by bottom springs." 



The eggs are much smaller than those of a trout, and, being heavier 

 than the water, rest on the bottom within the limits of the nest. The 

 only estimate of their number with which I am familiar is that made by 

 Mr. E. L. Sturtevant, who found about 17,000 in a Large-mouth weighing 

 two and one-half pounds. 



The length of time required by the eggs in coming to maturity is esti- 

 mated at from eight to ten days, the hatching being somewhat accelerated 

 in warm weather. The young fish, when first hatched, are about three- 

 eighths of an inch long. They are very active, and at once begin to 

 feed. One observer describes them as darting rapidly about, looking like 

 black motes in the water; while another has seen them lying motionless 

 near the bottom, the school appearing like a floating vail of gauze. For 

 a few days they may be seen playing about the nest, but they soon dis- 

 perse, to find lurking places among the grass and pebbles near the margin 

 of the water, and to begin their corsair career by preying upon the larvce 

 of insects and the minute crustaceans which abound in such localities. 



