REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XXXVU 



This fish was iatroduced into this stream in 1854 by Mr. William ' 

 Shriver, of Wheeling ; * several mature fish having been transported 



* As an important contribution to the history of the black bass and of the measures 

 taken to introduce it into new waters I reproduce a letter by John Eoff from the report 

 of the Smithsonian Institution for 1854 : 



"On my return from a small hunting expedition to the headwaters of Sand Creek, 

 Jackson County, Virginia, I found your kind letter of November 26, 1854 ; and, in order 

 to comply best with your wishes and views therein expressed, I will give you such a 

 description of one particular species of fish, (which I consider the most valuable, on 

 account of their quality as a j)an-fish and their quantity,) in our western streams, viz, 

 the bass, (called by the early settlers in the western country yellow or black perch.) 

 They are a remarkably active and voracious fish, with a large and hard mouth, and 

 vary in size, according to their age, from three-quarters of a pound to three pounds, 

 and occasionally have been caught to weigh as high as six pounds or seven pounds. 

 Their food, wheu small, appears to be all kinds of insects, (flies, worms, &c. ;) when 

 larger, though not entirely leaving off their earlier habits, their principal food is the 

 smaller fish of other kinds. In the winter-season they retire to deep and still water, 

 and apparently hide under rocks, logs, &c., and remain there until the first of April, 

 when they come out and begin to ascend the streams, apparently to find a convenient 

 place for spawning, which commences about the 15th of 'May, varying some little accord- 

 ing to the warmth of the season, &c. When that event is about taking place, they 

 appear to separate into pairs, male and female, and hunt out some retired place, or 

 nook, where the water is about eighteen inches deep, and still, but adjoiuiug deeper 

 water, to which they can escape if alarmed ; they there commence making their nests, 

 that is, washing all the mud, &c., off the bottom, so as to leave it perfectly clean, in a 

 circular form, the diameter of the circle (or nest) being about twice the length of the 

 fish ; after which the female begins depositing her eggs, which appear to become glued 

 to the bottom, or small stones, in rows, after the deposit has taken place. She remains 

 night and day, either on her nest, or swimming round about it, apparently guarding 

 the eggs, and driving every other smaller fish away. This watching or guarding con- 

 tinues until the eggs are what is called hatched, which occurs in from eight to ten days, 

 according to the temperature of the water. The young fish at first remain near the 

 bottom, and appear like a gauze vail floating. In two or three days they gradually 

 rise and spread, the old one leaves them, they separate, and each one shifts for itself, 

 i. e., hides under leaves, small sticks, and stones. 



"I, as yet, have had no positive means of determining the precise time for a young 

 bass to arrive at maturity, but suppose it to be three years, from the following facts : 

 In the spring of the year (April) you may find large numbers of young bass about two 

 or two and a half inches in length, rather in company with other minnows ; in the fol- 

 lowing autumn and fall of the year you will find very few of that size, but congregat- 

 ing together, and alone, you will find a number from three to four inches in length ; 

 while during the same fall you may catch young bass of about eight inches long, with 

 the formation of the young egg within them, preparatory for spawning the following 

 spring. In the spawning-season you will find a large number of nests of small bass, 

 the bass being ten or eleven inches long, which I have always concluded were three 

 years old. Hence, from the above facts, you will perceive that the bass of our western 

 country are valuable, and, at the same time, can be easier transferred, and in greater 

 quantities, from one stream to another, than almost any other fish. All that is neces- 

 sary to supply a pond with any quantity would be to examine their nests at the time 

 they are spawning, and to pick up the small gravel out of their nests, with the eggs 

 attached thereto, and put them in a bucket of water, and place them in your pond, in 

 such a position that smaller fish could not devour the eggs ; and in a short time th(>y 

 would hatch, and the young ones would help themselves. Or, to secure a larger quan- 

 tity in a short time, wait until the young are hatched, and are in innumerable quanti- 



