166 BOOK OF THE BLACK BASS. 



There is not an absolute uniformity of growth in fishes, 

 any more than in other creatures ; thus, some fish will out- 

 grow others of the same hatching until double their size, 

 a fact made very apparent in the artificial culture of brook 

 Trout, Salmon, etc. ; but Black Bass will grow with wonder- 

 ful rapidity where an equable temperature of water and an 

 abundance of food obtain. As an instance of the influence 

 of an abundant supply of food upon the growth of Black 

 Bass, A. N. Cheney, Esq., of Glens Falls, New York, re- 

 lated to me the following circumstance, and presented me 

 with a fine photograph of the two fish alluded to : — 



" I send you a photograph of two large-mouthed Bass 

 caught by myself. They are, or, rather, one of them is, 

 the largest Bass ever caught in any waters about here, 

 weighing seven jwunds and fourteen ounces, and the other 

 six and a quarter pounds. The most remarkable fact is, 

 perhaps, the eflPect of food upon the growth of fish. The 

 two fish in question were caught in Long Pond, near here, 

 August 1, 1877. Long Pond was stocked with six small 

 Bass from Lake George, New York, in 1866, they having 

 been put into a stream emptying into the Pond by some 

 gentlemen, who, on their way from camping a week at 

 Lake George, had to cross this stream to reach home ; and 

 the putting the fish into the stream was suggested by their 

 catching a number of small Bass during the last day in camp. 



" The fact of their deposit was almost forgotten, when, 

 in 1874-'75, quantities of Bass were discovered in the 

 Pond, which had hitherto been inhabited by Pickerel, 

 Perch, and quantities of bait fish, minnows, silver and gold 

 shiners, etc. While Lake George has never been known 

 to yield a Bass over six and a half pounds, Long Pond has 

 turned out at least a dozen over that wei<i;ht. 



