AMEEICAN CATFISHES. 31 



gathered by means of a net and put into a vacant pond, where they 

 are fed and held for shipment as fingerhngs. According to Mr. 

 Meehan the adults do not require a great flow of water; but in order 

 to keep them healthy they must be liberally fed, not only through 

 summer, fall, and spring, but during the winter. The manner of 

 feeding in the winter is to cut a hole through the ice and sink to within 

 a foot of the bottom a wire basket filled with cut liver. The catfish 

 feed therefrom very readily and emerge in the spring fine and plump 

 and in good condition for spawning. 



It is evident from the foregoing notes, and from general experience, 

 that the common bullhead or hornpout is easily bred and reared in 

 small ponds and is the catfish best suited to meet the demands of 

 private pond owners, farmers, and the public generally. A few fish 

 will soon stock a pond, and with a reasonable amount of care and 

 favorable conditions will furnish a supply of excellent food fish for 

 home and even for market purposes. 



At the government stations the cultivation of the bullhead, while 

 easily successful, has not been undertaken on a very large scale for 

 lack of sufficient pond space, other branches of the work demanding 

 greater attention. The bullheads hatched have, however, been 

 reared to fingerling size and larger before planting, and the number 

 so produced — 13,725 in 1909 — may therefore be regarded as consid- 

 erable. Recommendations now before Congress, if adopted, will 

 provide a new station for the primary purpose of catfish culture. 



SPOTTED CATFISH. 



With the spotted catfish {Ictalurus punctatus), the attempts at 

 pond culture by the United States fishery stations and the state 

 commissions are so far negative. Observations as to the spawning 

 habits of this species have proved difficult to make and are as yet 

 inadequate to afford proper knowledge upon which to proceed. 

 Experiment has shown that the spotted catfish will not thrive in the 

 still, muddy waters that seem to be suited to the bullhead, and such 

 facts as have been gathered regarding its natural history indicate 

 that it requires clearer, moving water. Both the spotted cat and the 

 blue channel cat (Ictalurus furcafus) are found in the San Marcos and 

 Blanco rivers, Texas, usually in swift water over gravel or sand 

 shoals, and Mr. John L. Leary, superintendent of the United States 

 Fisheries station at San Marcos, thinks that they probably spawn in 

 those rapid places, though he has never actually observed them on 

 their spawning beds. It would seem that "quick water" is not 

 always necessary, however, for the spotted cat abounds, or did 

 abound a few years ago, in the St. Johns River, Florida, where there 

 are no riffles or rapids whatever. Here the localities where the water 



