NOTES ON FISHES OF THE DELAWARE RIVER. 831 



the amount of food consumed is considerable, they are not, I judge, as 

 voracious as pike of the same size. 



There is a decided deepening of the whole coloration of the male tish 

 in the month of May, when the depositing of ova takes place ; and with 

 the higher coloring, is that increased activity, or restlessness, noticeable 

 in so many of our fishes at this season of the year. I have not been 

 able to determine, but judge, from the measurements of the smallest 

 female with ova that I have examined, that the third summer (two- 

 year-old fish) is the commencement of their spawning; but for how 

 many years subsequently this is continued, I have no means of judging ; 

 but it is certain that they continue to grow long after the maturing of 

 their generative organs. Some of the very largest yellow perch I have 

 ever seen were taken in nets in the Delaware, and were females with 

 apparently ripe ova. 



In New Jersey, early in May, the sexes go in pairs to cool waters, 

 having some current and a sandy or pebbly bed, with a moderate amount 

 of vegetation {MyriajHitm obtusum preferred), and the ova are deposited 

 on the bed of the stream, quite near the shore. The milt is deposited im- 

 mediately after, the two fishes being side by side while the process is 

 going on. The temperature of the water is about 55° Fahrenheit. 



The eggs, when extruded, sink to the bottom of the "nest" in small 

 masses, and there remain, adhering to the pebbles or sand, until 

 hatched, and the ordinary flow of the water does not seem to disturb 

 them ; although they have no protection from the current other than 

 being in a very shallow basin, made by the female fish pushing to either 

 side, with her abdominal fins, the coarser pebbles, or a little of the sand, 

 immediately before she commences spawning. 



The female fish, having deposited her eggs, immediately quits the 

 nest, followed by the male, and the eggs they have deposited and fertil- 

 ized are not disturbed by them, and certainly are not subsequently 

 visited. So far as I have been able to judge, the parent fishes pay no 

 further attention to the eggs, and lose all trace of their progeny's where- 

 abouts. The eggs, numbering about 8,000, are hatched at the end of 

 four or five days, at most ; or at least a good proportion are ; for at the 

 end of a week or ten days I have frequently found minute yellow perch, 

 associated with little sun-fish, tangled in among the water plants, active 

 as their strength permitted, and darting voraciously at almost invisible 

 specks, that seemed to serve them for food. In the immediate neigh- 

 borhood of the "nest" I have seen many hundreds of such little perch, 

 and once gathered about 500 (estimated) with one sweep of a scoop-net, 

 when hunting for " pirates" {Aphrodederus sayanus). Whether this perch 

 is a desirable species with which to stock i)onds, or not. I will offer no 

 opinion ; but experiments I have knowledge of, certainly indicate that 

 it is very easily reared artificially. 



As a food-fish, there appears to be a great deal of difference of opin- 

 ion as to its value; but in the markets at Trenton, N. J., it is not 



