Lir REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



sink to the bottom and cat it lazily, but ri^e to tlie surface, lasliing tbe water into 

 foam, and erxliibit every appearance of enjoyment. 



The black bass {Micropterus salmoides) in our ponds decline mush in any form, and 

 can not be made to eat it. When sometimes mixed with considerable liver they 

 will take it in the mouth, but quickly spit it out. The same results have attended 

 frequent trials with crackers, bakers' bread, and dog biscuit. They seem averse to 

 A'egetable diet. We have been able to induce them to eat nothing but liver — and it 

 must be fresh and sweet. (Of course we have not tried minnows or other fish, our 

 efforts being to overcome their natural instincts to eat fish.) When the liver, as it 

 will occasionally in the summer, becomes the least tainted, the bass decline it. 

 Occasionally they decline any and every thing to eat. This peculiarity of the bass 

 is well known to anglers. (Book of the Black Bass, Henshall, p. 360.) In our 

 ponds they never eat on "nasty," raw days; but on pretty days they follow one 

 around the pond seeming to beg for food. They are A^ery active after the flies here 

 in summer (but less so than the rainbow trout), and have been seen to kill and 

 partially eat a snake. Unquestionably they devour the largest part of their young 

 after the school leaves the nests and disperses. 



The channel catfish (tlie original stock from Grand River, Indian Territory) eat 

 the mush greedily. During the late fall, winter, and early spring they are dormant 

 and never come for their food. Such as may be oftered to them at this time sinks to 

 the bottom and remains unnoticed. At other times of the year they rise to the sur- 

 face and eat the mush ravenously, reminding one of pigs. They are, as is generally 

 known among anglers, very fond of liver, it, in fact, being a favorite bait for them. 

 Very rarely we mix a small amount of liver with their mush. {See U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission Bulletins, 1883, p. 419; 1884, p. 321; 1886, i). 137.) 



To our rock bass we occasionally give a small quantity of liver, but it is very 

 doubtful if they ever eat any of it. They will at times pugnaciously dart out and 

 take a small piece in their mouth, to immediately spit it out, It is thought that the 

 presence of small quantities of liver in their jjond assists in breeding the insects 

 which seem to furnish the bulk of their food. 



To the golden ides, goldfish, tench, and carp we feed mush unmixed with liver. 

 They are fond of liver, but it does not seem necessary to their keeping. 



The quantity of food given to the pond fish is varied according to the number of 

 fish, size of pond, season of year, and condition of weather. No definite rule seems 

 possible. Not only does the appetite of the fish vary, but scarcely any two ponds 

 have the same capacity for producing natural food to supply the lacking necessary 

 ingredients of the artificial food. Again, the artificial food which might be econom- 

 ically used in one locality would be beyond profitable employment in another. It 

 may be found that cotton seed can be profitably employed in feeding certain warm- 

 pond fish in some southern localities. It would scarcely be economical in Pennsyl- 

 vania or Ohio. At the Cold Spring Harbor hatchery on Long Island, New York, they 

 have been using horse meat for the past six months At the Forest Hill hatchery, 

 St. Louis, Mo., the refuse of the cracker factories of St. Louis is used for feeding carp. 



The trout mentioned in the letter following was 28 months old at the 



time of capture: 



ROGKRS, Ark., June S, 1892. 

 Dkab Sir: Your kind favor of April 21 was received. To-day I received a rain- 

 bow trout from Silver Springs race and spring, where we deposited 500 trout received 

 from you December, 1890, or January, 1891. It weighs, dressed, 3 pounds, measures 

 22 inches from tip to tip, and was full of spawn. Am sorry it was caught. We do 

 not allow fishing, but this one jumped the bars. Have taken a cast of it in plaster. 

 Two or three smaller fish have been taken out, but this seems to show what they can 

 do in our water. No food has been furnished them. * * * 

 Respectfully, yours, 



J. G. Bailey, 

 President Silver Springs Milling Company. 

 Mr. Page, Neosho, Mo. 



