DISTRIBUTION OF FISH AND FISH EGGS, 1916, 5 
properly executed and bearing the indorsement of a United States 
Senator or Representative, an assignment of fish is made, suitable for 
the waters described and to the Bureau’s facilities to supply, and the 
delivery is arranged for as soon as possible thereafter. Applicants. « 
should confine their choice of fish to species that are indigenous to the 
region of the waters to be stocked. Nonindigenous species of fish are 
assigned only upon the recommendation of the State fisheries authori- 
ties, and not then unless such recommendation conforms to the 
Bureau’s judgment. 
The Bureau refuses requests for such predaceous fishes as the black 
bass, sunfish, and kindred species for introduction into waters in 
California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, or western 
Montana, as it is believed their presence in such waters might prove 
harmful to the trout and salmon fisheries of that region. 
Each species of fish spawns at a specific time during the year—the 
brook trout and the domesticated rainbow trout of eastern waters in 
the fall or early winter; the blackspotted trout, steelhead trout, and 
the wild rainbow trout of western waters during the spring; while all 
of the pond fishes reproduce in the spring or early summer. 
The product of each season is distributed as the fish attain proper 
size for shipment, and after the exhaustion of the stock of one season 
no more are available until the same season the following year. 
The distribution of trout in the Eastern States begins in March and 
is completed by the last of June, while trout shipments to applicants 
in the Middle States extend from about May 1 until well along in 
July. In the Rocky Mountain Siates the trout distributions occur 
somewhat later, the work usually starting by September 1 and 
continuing into the early winter. 
The black basses produced at the Bureau’s pond-cultural stations 
are distributed between May and August, while the miscellaneous 
fishes rescued from overflowed lands and the output of rock bass, 
crappie, sunfish, and catfish from these stations are shipped simul- 
taneously, the distribution usually extendmg from August to 
December. 
It is the policy of the Bureau to fill applications in the order of their 
receipt so far a3 practicable, but it is impossible to state definitely, 
in advance, when the fish requested by an applicant can be furnished, 
the approximate time of delivery depending upon transportation 
facilities, which are not always available on a given date, and, in the 
case of the pond or river fishes, upon the degree of success attained 
in the collections. 
The number of fish assigned on an application must necessarily be 
governed by the available supply of the species requested and the 
time of year scheduled for the delivery, it being obvious that very young 
