129 



sixty adult fisli in the pond and eighteen beds are in 

 sight. Five of these beds are non-productive, but the 

 other thirteen will yield about 70,000 fry, 60,000 hav- 

 ing already been collected from eleven of the thirteen 

 beds. 



The fish in the upper pond were reserved for exper- 

 iments in the line of artificial propagation. Beginning 

 with the first spawning season, 1894, they were not 

 disturbed until they had commenced to prepare the 

 beds ; they were then seined up from time to time and 

 examined. Early in the season one ripe female was 

 found and a portion of her eggs were taken, but there 

 were no ripe males in the pond, so a male was opened, 

 the spermaries removed and pressed out in water which 

 was poured over the eggs. Number of eggs taken 

 2100; number hatched 700, or thirty-three per cent. 



A number of the females were quite soft when first 

 handled, but hardened up with further handling and 

 failed to spawn at all. Bedding was also discontinued, 

 and interference with the natural spawning was 

 resented to that extent that thej^ made no further 

 effort to spawn in a natural way. Not a fish was 

 hatched in the pond and only 700 by artificial propa- 

 gation. So this experiment was a failure. 



A few days later a pair of bass were seined from 

 their bed in the river as they were at the point of 

 spawning, but no eggs or milt could be obtained. 

 They were held in a tank seven days, then removed to 

 a small pond with gravel bottom, but they made no 

 effort to spawn, and finally fungused and died. An- 

 other pair was captured in the river while in the act of 

 spawning, a few eggs having been cast ; the eggs came 

 freely, but as no milt could be pressed out, only 500 

 were taken. By ojDening the male a very little milt 

 was procured, and about 200 fish were hatched from 

 the lot. 



The next spring, or one year ago, a small side 



