32 AMERICAN CATFISHES. 



is clear, comparatively cool, and flowing with a steady, moderate 

 current, over sandy or rocky bottom, perhaps afford spawning grounds 

 for the spotted cat. The Bureau is continuing its efforts to learn the 

 facts as to the conditions required by this fish and expects in time 

 to propagate it successfully. 



FISH-CULTURAL DISTRIBUTIONS AND RESULTS OF PLANTS. 



The greater part of the Government's supply of young catfishes 

 for distribution is derived from overflowed bottoms in the Mississippi 

 basin. Young fish of all kinds are left in the sloughs when the waters 

 have receded, and among these are found spotted cat, black cat, 

 marbled cat, and bullhead, which, with black bass* crappie, perch, 

 and other species, are seined out annually in large quantities by the 

 Bureau of Fisheries and, except those restored to the river, are used 

 to augment the stock of the hatcheries for distribution to applicants. 

 The number of catfishes so collected runs into hundreds of thousands 

 each year, and in 1909, with the young bullheads hatched at the 

 stations, brought the total distributions of catfish to 562,580. 



The increasing popularity of the catfishes appears to some extent 

 in the growing number of requests for them received by the Bureau 

 of Fisheries. These requests come from practically every state and 

 territory, but, as already stated, the catfishes are best known and 

 appreciated in the South and Middle West. The following letter, 

 published in the Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, vol- 

 ume IV, 1884, page 321, may be quoted as showing an early successful 

 attempt to cultivate the "speckled catfish" in Georgia: 



It is naturally a pond fish, and found only in one locality in the South, at least 

 such is my information and observation. That locality is in Flint River, running 

 south and emptying into the Chattahoochee some distance below Columbus, Ga. 

 Many years ago this fish was plentiful, being found only in still water, lagoons, or 

 ponds. The Flint River runs through the Pine Mountain. Not far south or north 

 of the mountain these fish cease to occupy the waters and inhabit only the tributaries 

 to the rivers, including a space of about 50 or 75 miles. Some time since I determined 

 to try to domesticate them, and the effort has resulted in success. * * * They 

 love a pond of clean water and a mud bottom. All the floods that come can not 

 wash them from their home, unless the whole of the pond is carried away. They 

 will not go into running water if they can avoid it. Disturb them and, like a carp, 

 they will sink in the mud and hide. They can be caught conveniently in a gill net, 

 but with great difficulty in a seine. My pond covers 5 acres of land, the largest 

 and best pond in western Georgia. It is a perfect mass of fish, and has been con- 

 structed only eleven months. The water is from an inch to 5 feet deep and abounds 

 in vegetation. 



In a number of letters in answer to inquiries, recipients of catfish 

 distributed by the Bureau of Fisheries report their experience with 

 and the results of the plants. Those that refer to the "speckled 

 catfish" mean perhaps, in some cases at least, the bullhead (Ameiurus 

 nehulosus), which, as Mr. Stranahan has pointed out, is called 

 "speckled catfish" in the South. But the size attained in some 



