370 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



Cold Spring (Ga.) Station 

 [Charles A. Bullock, Superintendent] 



A number of changes in the pond system at this point were made necessary 

 by the recent construction of a new highway across a portion of the station 

 grounds. The most important of these changes were the enlargement of sev- 

 eral ponds and the construction of three new concrete overflows in other ponds. 



It is customary at this station to drain all breeding ponds as soon as the 

 young fish in them have been distributed (usually about August 1), and to 

 allow them to remain dry until the 1st of February. The object of refilling 

 the ponds at this time is to induce a larger growth of plankton than would be 

 obtained otherwise. Because of hindrance by the road-building operations the 

 work of refilling the ponds last season could not be attended to until March 1, 

 at which time it is necessary to transfer the brood fish from their winter quar- 

 ters to the ponds. The brood stock of largemouth black bass was augmented 

 in advance of the spawning season by the purchase of 300 adults from the 

 owner of a large lake near Milltown, Ga. The year's output of this species, 

 to the propagation of which the work of the Cold Spring station is confined, 

 has been exceeded only once in its history. This was in 1925, when approxi- 

 mately 125,000 more fish were distributed than in 1926. 



Much difficulty has been experienced in procuring suitable fresh food in 

 .sufficient quantities to maintain the station brood fish. A shortage in the 

 market supply of fresh-water mullet, the most satisfactory material heretofore 

 obtainable, necessitated the substitution of the so-called " northern fresh-water 

 mullet," on which some kind of preservative apparently had been used. It 

 having been ascertained early in May that shrimp heads were a waste product 

 in the shrimp industry, a trial shipment of that material was obtained. The 

 bass ate it greedily, and in the future supplies of this material will be obtained 

 at regular intervals if it is possible to do so. 



Harris Ponds (Ga.) substation. — This auxiliary, consisting of a series of 

 ponds situated about 4 miles from the main station, is devoted entirely to the 

 production of bream and catfish. The ponds usually are drawn in early August 

 and the fish in them transferred to the Cold Spring station ponds for distribu- 

 tion later in the season. A steady increase is noted in the annual output of 

 these ponds, last year's excess over the output of the preceding year being 

 about 30,000 fish. 



Edenton (N. C.) Station 



[W. S. Vincent, Superintendent] 



Extensive improvements were made to the pond system during the year, 

 the changes including the enlargement of one of the ponds to twice its former 

 size. Though the station's production of pond fishes was smaller than last 

 year's by approximately 45,000, this shortage was at least partly compensated 

 by the larger size of the fish distributed. Owing to the adverse weather pre- 

 vailing during February, the collection of brood yellow perch from commercial 

 fishermen was delayed until March, and when finally acquired it was found 

 that many of the 300 adults assembled had already spawned. Owing to this 

 aelay, only about 1,500,000 eggs were collected for the station. In addition to its 

 output of black bass and yellow perch, the station produced and distributed 

 small numbers of sunfish, crappie, warmouth bass, and catfish. A discussion 

 of the shad and river herring work will be found on page 358 under the heading 

 "Anadromous Fishes of the Atlantic Coast." 



Louisville (Ky.) Station 



[C. W. Burnham, Superintendent] 



Though the spawning of the various pond fishes was greatly retarded by 

 the cold, backward spring, natural conditions were generally favorable to 

 nesting operations from May 1, when the first eggs were deposited, up to the 

 close of the fiscal year. The output of fry from the brood largemouth black 

 bass that had been held in the station ponds for several years was somewhat 

 disappointing; but the results with smallmouth bass were quite satisfactory, 

 the distributions of that species being slightly larger than those of any previous 

 year in the history of the station. These results were attained with four 

 breeding ponds, each of which was three-fourths acre in area, the available 



