182 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



and in 5on)0 fishes is crusted over ^vith a thin lamella to 

 keep it from collapsing. 



The canals terminate in a cavity, in which cavity there 

 is a bone or bones. These ear-bones are familiar to most 

 anglers, and are sometimes very beautiful, resembling 

 porcelain, and are often called " brain-ivory ; " those of 

 the sheepshead {Haploidonotiis f/noinicns) of our AVestern 

 waters are known as "lucky stones," and are highly 

 prized by boys as pocket pieces. 



A remarkable instance, demonstrating the acuteness of 

 the sense of hearing in fishes, has recently occurred in 

 California. As it is an exceedingly interesting and well- 

 authenticated fact, and one so totally at variance Avith pre- 

 conceived notions, I feel justified in reproducing it here. 

 The account was published in the San Francisco Chronicle, 

 upon the authority of Mr. B. B. Redding, one of the Fish 

 Commissioners of California : 



In Siskiyou County there is a caravansary kept by George Camp- 

 bell, and known as the Upper Soda Springs Hotel, which is situated 

 on a semicircle of land formed by a bend in the Sacramento River. 

 Wishing to have a supply of fresh Trout close at hand, Mr. Camp- 

 bell had a supply of water conducted through a board flume from 

 the river to a natural depression in the ground, thereby creating 

 an excellent fish pond of about half an acre in extent, which he 

 supplied with full-grown Trout caught in the river. The supply 

 flume is, for some distance, raised about four feet above the ground. 

 About four hundred feet from the pond, a small rivulet, which is an 

 outlet forirrig;>.ting water, flows under the flume, crossing it at right 

 angles and about four feet below it, and empties into the river. 



The fall of water from the end of the flume to the surface of the 

 pond is two feet, the water in the flume flowing with a velocity of 

 three miles an hour. The i)(>nd has an outlet, which is screened to 

 prevent the escape of the Trout. Shortly after the pond was estab- 

 lihhcdj the discovery was made that numbers of fish were missing 



