there is little hope for their recovery under any condi' 

 tions; the vital spark is too nearly extinguished to be 

 relighted. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that 

 millions on millions of fry have been turnea out only 

 to perish, as a result of being held too long, thus de- 

 nying access to appropriate food at the most tencier 

 and critical period of their existence. I wish to say 

 most emphatically that these statements are not made 

 in a spirit of criticism nor with an assumption of su- 

 perior knowledge ; they are made solely with a view 

 to pointing out and profiting by what seems to be one 

 of the reasons for the disappointing" results that have 

 attended the white fish work. 



There is much in support of the general proposition 

 that all fish require food almost as soon as they are 

 able to swim freely. The white fish, unlike the brook 

 trout, is a free swimmer the instant it succeeds in break- 

 ing the walls and escaping from its embryonic prison. 

 Its so-called food sac is small and nearly absorbed, and 

 though the further absorption of the yolk-sac is un- 

 doubtedly capable of keeping the fish alive for a time, 

 the elements thus supplied cannot properly be regarded 

 as food, while there is much to indicate that it fails to 

 contribute all of the elements that are essential 

 to a norinal development. We know by actual ob- 

 servation that when confined in aquaria and freely sup- 

 plied with plankton, they at least attempt the capture 

 of minute animal forms, within one to three days after 

 hatching, and sometimes with success. May not these 

 real or apparent efforts to take food be regarded as 

 springing from a sensation of hunger ? 



We find that the young of black bass begin to take 

 food within forty hours after they rise from the spawn- 

 ing bed. We also find that within a few days after 

 hatching, pikeperch fry become so hungry for somthing 

 not supplied by the sac that they seize upon one 



