REPORT OF, THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 29 
owner of a home fish pond. Such experiments can be imposed upon 
the biological station at Fairport, Iowa, not only without hampering 
its primary functions in the propagation of fresh-water mussels, but 
in a way to materially further that object. In connection with the 
experimental fish culture there is accumulated a store of experience, 
but there is also made available a surplus stock of young fishes which 
may be used in the propagation of mussels. 
Some of these experiments are being conducted with such favorite 
fishes as the bass and bream. An important one undertaken dur- 
ing the past fiscal year is the rearing of young buffalofishes from 
eggs artificially fertilized and hatched. While the larger number 
of the buffalo fry were liberated in the Mississippi River soon after 
hatching, a pond of about an acre in extent was stocked with 180,000 
of these fish as the beginning of an experiment to determine the 
feasibility of rearing them in artificial ponds. This is not known to 
have been attempted before, but the Bureau is gratified to record 
that at the close of the fiscal year the results are quite encouraging. 
These experiments in the artificial propagation and rearing of the 
buffalofish are to be regarded as of particular importance, since this 
species is a valuable commercial fish that is regularly diminishing in 
numbers in the public waters. As a pond fish it has the advantage 
of attaining a large size, of being without cannibalistic tendencies, 
and seemingly adapted for practicable methods of artificial feeding. 
The results of such experiments will be of value not only in point- 
ing the way for more effective conservation of the fish in public 
waters, but also by giving due encouragement and assistance to those 
who would utilize privately owned waters for the production of fish 
food. The fish-cultural work at this station will be extended as 
additional ponds may be constructed. 
LIFE HISTORIES AND HABITS OF FISHES. 
It is manifest that in order to arrive at intelligent conclusions 
regarding the necessities and the proper modes of protection of 
marine fishes, and to determine the possibilities of promoting an 
increase through artificial propagation, it is essential to have a reason- 
ably complete knowledge of their life histories and habits. The prob- 
lem is easily stated, but the solution offers peculiar difficulties. One 
can not casually walk along the shores and observe the activities and 
the propagation of fishes. Systematic plans of study must be evolved 
so that the fishes are collected and observed at various places and 
during the different seasons. In the end a variety of methods of 
collecting and of study must be followed. The eggs and the larval 
fishes and the adults are not all obtained at the same time or by the 
same forms of apparatus. Chance, indeed, plays an important part 
in the investigations. The eggs or the larve may be obtained free 
in the water before the adult fishes are found in the condition of 
breeding. It is necessary to be able to identify the small forms 
whenever they are found, but familiarity with the adult fishes does 
not enable one to do this. The young are generally so dissimilar to 
the adults that eggs or larve of a common fish may be discovered, 
studied, and figured without determining the species of its parentage. 
This explains why it is necessary to undertake systematic studies of 
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