46 American Fisheries Society 



examined July 14, and at intervals the parent fish was observed 

 "fanning" the eggs by gentle movements of the tail and fins. 

 This fanning or care of the eggs was continued while the cover of 

 the keg was raised and while an attempt was being made to 

 photograph the nest. Samples of the eggs then taken from the 

 keg with a glass tube and rubber bulb, showed well developed and 

 active embryos. 



The eggs were removed from the keg and the mass divided 

 as evenly as possible in halves, one half being retained and the 

 other half returned again to the keg. During the process of 

 dividing the egg-mass, hatching commenced and before arrange- 

 ments for taking a photograph of the eggs could be made, all 

 had hatched. However, a photograph of the fry was obtained. 



An actual count gave a total of 2,945 active and vigorous 

 fry. Including the few dead eggs and a few fry that died, the 

 half of the egg-mass contained 2,972 eggs. Allowing for a slight 

 unequal division of the eggs, the original mass found in the keg 

 contained approximately 5,944 eggs, quite a respectable number 

 when the large size of the eggs is taken into consideration. The 

 young were placed in a trough outdoors to be subjected to the 

 artificial feeding experiments.* 



Ten other nests were carefully examined, one of which bore 

 evidence of having been cleaned and two others appeared as 

 though fish had been frequenting them, but nothing definite could 

 be determined. One keg examined July 17, appeared to contain 

 young fish, but further investigation was not made until the 

 following day when 284 were obtained. The top of this keg was 

 31 inches below the water surface. The small number found in 

 this nest may have been the remnant of a brood the larger portion 

 of which had left the nest earlier. These young fish were also 

 placed in an outdoor trough for artificial feeding experiments.* 



We were especially well pleased to get a hatch in the pond again 

 this season and with this start hope and expect to obtain more 

 substantial results next year. While it is yet too early to draw 

 conclusions, the data already secured point to the channel catfish 



* When this pond was drained October 21, 1917, young fish to the num- 

 ber of 5,942 were obtained, making a total of 9,171 young catfish for the 

 season. 



