ON STOCKING INLAND WATERS. 187 



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

 means of snbsistence. 



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, reptiles, 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 protects 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 pond 

 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 propagate 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 



