ON STOCKING INLAND WATERS. 187 



varying with the species, when they begin to look for other 

 means of subsistence. 



During all this time, from spawning until the absorption 

 of the yolk-sac — from three to six months, as the case may 

 be — the eggs and young are helplessly exposed to the 

 ravages of predatory fish, re})tiles, and birds. Under these 

 circumstances, comparatively few fish arrive at maturity, 

 and streams are soon depopulated by seining, injudicious 

 angling, and natural vicissitudes; hence arises the necessity 

 for their artificial cultivation and the re-stocking of such 

 waters. 



The eggs of the salmonids are of a separate and non- 

 adhesive character, which admits of their being easily 

 handled and managed for the purposes of artificial repro- 

 duction, while those of the Black Bass are glutinous and 

 adhesive, which renders them very difficult to manipulate 

 for similar purposes. 



The Black Bass being hatched with but a rudimentary 

 or very small umbilical vesicle or yolk-sack, needs the 

 fostering care and attention of the parent fish, who teaches 

 it how and where to find its food, and 2:)rotects it from 

 its enemies in the same way that a hen cares for her 

 brood. 



All that is required, then, to stock a stream or poud 

 with Black Bass, is to procure a small number of the fish, 

 at least a year old, and place them in the waters. If the 

 water is of a suitable character, and possesses a sufficient 

 supply of natural food, the Bass will jiropagate naturally, 

 and rapidly increase in numbers. 



The only considerations to be looked after are the char- 

 acter and conditions of the waters to be stocked — sufficient 

 depth and extent of surface being more important than 



