PROPAGATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES, 1922. 79 



withstand any freshet that is liable to occur in Warm Fork. From 

 this point west for about 100 feet the levee was brought to grade, 

 thus obviating all possibility of inundation of the station grounds 

 during floods. 



During the fall the brood stock of all species of fish handled at 

 the station was augmented, partly through transfers of fish from 

 northern points and partly through collections from local waters, 

 such collections also including supplies of minnows as a source of 

 food for the adult fish. 



In order that they might be under close observation, the 100 small- 

 mouthed black bass received from Lake Erie were placed on arrival 

 in the smaller of the two ponds maintained for the culture of this 

 species. In the course of the spawning season in the spring 12 nests 

 of various sizes were noted in this pond, all being below the average 

 except two. Each of these yielded 4,000 fry, while the fry proceeds 

 from the 12 nests amounted to 12,000. In the larger pond, used for 

 the spawning of the 200 older fish, 25 nests were occupied, and 

 49,600 advanced fry and fingerling fish were the not result. From 

 observations made during the season it was ascertained that the 

 eggs hatched in four days, in an average water temperature of Qdl° 

 F. and that the maximum number of fry from a single nest was 

 6,000, the average for the entire number being 3,000. The spawning 

 season began on April 5 and continued at irregular intervals to 

 May 2. 



From the spawning of the large-mouthed black bass, which com- 

 menced about two weeks later, nearly 39,000 advanced fry and finger- 

 lings Nos. 1 to 3 were collected and distributed before the close of 

 the year, and a considerable number of young bass were still in the 

 pond on that date. 



The outcome of the 3'ear's work with the rock bass is deemed note- 

 worthy, over 15,000 fingerling fish No. 2 being seined late in the fall 

 from the pond occupied during the previous spring by 60 brood fish 

 of that species. After supplying about 4,000 of these fingerlings to 

 applicants the remainder were stored for spring distribution in one 

 of the newly constructed ponds. Unfortunately the water tempera- 

 ture in this pond was not under control, and before the fish could be 

 collected for shipment in the spring they were subjected to unseason- 

 ably high temperatures, with a consequent loss of a large proportion. 

 During April and May the nests of the rock bass were held under 

 close obsen^ation to determine, if possible, the number of fry pro- 

 duced from a single nest. A fry container was used to confine the 

 fish, which during the early stages were about three-sixteenths of an 

 inch long. They were fed at frequent intervals on Daphnia. Just 

 before the conclusion of the experiment, however, the cheesecloth 

 walls of the retainers were wrecked by high winds, permitting all the 

 fish to roam at large in the pond. 



Close observation was kept on a brood stock of 75 crappie main- 

 tained during the year, but without securing any information as to 

 the time or extent of their spawning. However, in the process of 

 drawing down the bass pond adjoining the one containing the crap- 

 pie, 54 young crappie were gathered from among the bass. 

 34223°— 23 6 



