316 American Fisheries Society 



forms may be entangled. They all come under the general name of 

 algse, which is a botanical name, however, rather than a practical one. 



Mk. Worth : I will ask Mr. Kopplin whether those goldfish this 

 summer destroyed any of the bottom growth of plants in the ponds, 

 or whether it was the surface plants alone? 



Mr. Kopplin : The surface plants. Our lakes can be drained well, 

 and that would get rid of the moss in the fall of the year. In raising 

 carp 1 would go to Illinois and get algae starting from the bottom. It 

 settles down on the bottom of the pond in the winter and comes up 

 again in the spring. It got such a start one year that I could not 

 work with my bass; so I put about SO or 60 carp in one pond where 

 they spawned. Thousands of little carp resulted and they killed off 

 the moss. 



I )r. Bartlett : They are good for something then. 



Mr. Mf.ehax : What is that moss you are speaking of? 



Dr. Forees : Not the chara. We have almost none in this state. 

 Probably it is one of the milfoils. 



Mr. Kopplin : It is the stuff you cannot get through with a boat. 



Professor Dyche: You put the carp in with the young bass? 



Mr. Kopplin: Xo, in with the adult bass in the spring. 



Professor Dyche: It is stated that in four days after a certain 

 number of goldfish were put in there certain forms of fresh water 

 algae disappeared. It is not probable that goldfish in four days would 

 destroy such algae, especially where there is a mass of the material 

 all through the ponds, as we understand it. As a matter of fact the 

 fresh water algae, and particularly the species of Spirogyra, disappear 

 sometimes in a week's time without goldfish. After the plant once has 

 its growth and development it sometimes rapidly disappears. We have 

 noticed that in our ponds. There is such a vast number of things con- 

 nected with the relationship of plant life and fish life in any pond, 

 that I have deemed it wise to get the consent of the Kansas Legislature 

 and Board of Regents of the University of Kansas to study this sub- 

 ject. Since we have been put in charge of the Kansas State fish 

 hatchery we have undertaken to found a fish hatchery based primarily 

 on the food habits of fish. In this line there seem to be many prob- 

 lems that are unsolved. We have gotten together the best information 

 regarding bass culture that it was possible to get from the reports of 

 this Society, and with all due deference to all the gentlemen who have 

 written on the subject of black bass, after you have summed it up 

 there seems to lie considerable that is not known, particularly with 

 regard to wdiat young bass eat. 



In regard to insects in the pond, many of them look very good, but 

 they are not eaten by the fish at all. The only way we can find out 

 what the fish eat and do is to study the habits of the fish. We have 

 opened the stomachs of several thousand fish and studied them. We 

 have studied the stomachs of between 1,100 and 1,200 German carp and 

 we have on hand 2./00 stomachs taken in May and June, to work up; 



