NO. 180I MITJ^CRS-THUMn AXD t'l'S ITARlTS — CitLt I13 



by fishermen for bait for other fishes, but by lovers of dainties as an 

 agreeable food. 



Tn America, as already noted, the A'lillers-thunibs. under llie name 

 of blobs, are best known as destroyers of the egt^s of the fronts as 

 well as salmons, and as snch do nmch damage, and are conseqnentl\- 

 regarded as pernicions pests. 



The published data respecting the injury inflicted on piscicultural 

 interests are scanty. Air. F. M. Chamberlain, in "Some observations 

 on Salmon and Trout in Alaska," compiled for the "Report of the 

 Commissioner of Fisheries" for 1906 (issued December 18, 1007), 

 simply rei)orted that "the Sculpin or Bullhead would seem to be a 

 more dangerous enemy to the Salmon fry than is the trout; it lurks 

 under the stones in just snch places as the fry will seek for shelter 

 (p. 108) ; on the other hand, it has been asserted that the little fisli 

 not infrequently falls a victim to the old fronts (p. 107). 



An appeal to the U. S. Fish Commission, and especially Dr. R. W. 

 Evermann, Mr. J. W. Titcomb, Dr. W. C. Kendall, Mr. E. L. Golds- 

 borough, and Mr. H. W. Clark, elicited confirmation of the charge 

 against the Cottids. Air. Goldsborongh communicated data which 

 are noteworthy, not only for their bearing on the matter in question, 

 but also confirmatory of the deliberate manner of feeding previously 

 described by Fatio ; his communication is herewith given : 



"In the fall of 1903 (September), while at the Salmon hatchery of 

 the Alaska Packers Association, located at Loring, Alaska, I was 

 watching and helping the men spawn the fish. We were wading 

 around in the stream (Naha River) and many eggs were dropped 

 info the wafer. These were at once gobbled up by the blobs (C. 

 giilosus), hundreds of which were lurking around among and under 

 the small stones in the stream. They were so voracious as to at 

 once attract my attention. I got a handful of the fresh, soft eggs 

 and pitched them where I could observe what happened. They were 

 devoured in a few minutes by several blobs and sticklebacks. I kept 

 account of the work of one little blob particularly, which was per- 

 haps three or four inches long ; it ate twenty of the eggs and hunted 

 for more. The eggs were all devoured in perhaps two or three 

 minutes. The fish would fake a single egg in its month, puncture it 

 to get the soft contents, then spit out with some force the soft shell, 

 and immediatel}^ fake another egg and do the same thing. 



"The blob has since been recognized by the superintendent of their 

 hatchery, Mr. Fred Patching, as so destructive to salmon fry that 

 he has made a regular and persistent effort to capture them, and by 

 using traps bated with salmon eggs he has caught thousands," 

 8 



