EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 97 



Golden ide. — No results were obtained from this sijecies, in conse- 

 quence of cold weather in the first half of April, whereby the eggs 

 were destroyed. 



BlacJi bass. — From 15 black bass 34,500 young were obtained, 500 of 

 which were 5 to 7 inches long, the remainder 2 to 3 inches. The larger 

 and smaller ones were raised in the same x>ond, and it is inferred that 

 difference in size was due to cannibalism. Much labor was required to 

 supply food, the daily ration being about 15 pounds of fish and every 

 other day 30 pounds, that quantity of live fish being obtained during 

 tlic summer and fall in the vicinity of Observatory Hill. Small river 

 fishes of no table value were secured by seines and small boats operated 

 by regular employees. On September 8, the number of bass having 

 been observed to be decreasing, and the small fish available as food for 

 them having been greatly reduced, purchases were made of oflal fish 

 in the markets, 10 to 20 pounds being obtained daily. 



SJiad. — Shad fry amounting to 1,989,000 received from Central Station 

 in the preceding fiscal year, T\Iay 5 to 10, were placed in a reaiing-pond 

 of about 5 acres and held for liberation in the Potomac, effected by the 

 lifting of gates December 2. The number released was about 600,000. 



The production of other species was : Leather carp, 35,000 ; scale carp, 

 46,700; blue-leather carp, 1,700; blue-scale carp, 2,400; spotted catfish, 

 1,300; tench, 356; golden ide, 398; goldfish, 9,500; black bass, 34,500. 



In December i^reparations were made for the next season's spawning 

 of black bass by the introduction of quantities of clean gravel into 

 their spawning pond. The method of handling black bass at this 

 station is to place a limited number of spawning fish in a small pond a 

 few rods square in which the water is shallow, the bottom being covered 

 with clean gravel, the small pond being connected with another, ten or 

 twenty times as large, by means of wire screen of proper size mesh to 

 permit the young to pass out. After the young have left the nest and 

 obtained access to this larger and more fruitful feeding- ground they 

 are safe from being eaten by their parents. In January, the Potomac 

 River being filled with ice from Washington to its upper source, it was 

 anticipated that a gorge would occur, resulting in the flooding of this 

 station, and to avoid the loss of brood fish the ice was removed from 

 14 ponds, its amount being about 500 cart loads, and the fish stored in 

 the brick vats and covered with netting. No freshet occurred; but so 

 much damage from frost was sustained by water-pipes and valves, the 

 cross i)artitions in ponds, the banks of ponds, etc., that a great portion 

 of the next four weeks was occupied in repairs. 



During the later months of the year spawning by the pond fishes 

 was accomplished, the results, however, only to be definitely determined 

 in the fall months of the succeeding fiscal year. In furtherance of the 

 practice adopted a few seasons ago, the first shad hatched at Central 

 Station were delivered here for rearing in ponds, the number received 

 this year, May 1 to 9, being 1,444,000. 

 F. R. 93 7 



