62 American Fisheries Society 



of another 27 inches long. * * * Sixteen minute min- 

 nows have been taken by us from the stomach of a single 

 specimen 2 inches long, * * * The abundance and 

 destructiveness of gars in particular localities have recently- 

 led to serious efforts at extermination and pound-nets have 

 been found quite useful for this purpose. * * * 



"Their earliest food is apparently Entomostraca, but they 

 begin at a surprisingly early age their life work of keeping 

 down the fish population of the waters they inhabit. A 

 specimen only an inch and a quarter long, examined by us, 

 had taken a minute fish, and another two inches long and 

 only an eighth of an inch in depth had filled itself with no 

 fewer than sixteen very young minnows." 



A volume of text would not give a better idea of the 

 destructive and worthless nature of this pest. The State 

 Fish Commission of this state has taken up the work of the 

 destruction of the gar in portions of the waters of the state, 

 so far as the limited amount of money at its command 

 would permit. A law enacted by the Forty-fifth General 

 Assembly made it the duty of commercial fishermen to kill 

 and bury or burn all gars taken in their nets and seines, 

 with a penalty for failure to do so, but its observance was 

 the exception rather than the rule. A few who recognized 

 its value as applied to their business in the future did de- 

 stroy them, but the larger number, in their haste to secure 

 the fish they wanted, simply threw them toward the shore 

 and let it go at that. 



So great has been the loss in the young of other fishes, 

 that the Commission decided on making a warfare against 

 the gar the principal part of its work, since the legislature 

 had refused to make an appropriation for the usual work, 

 the collection and distribution of our native fishes, so we 

 have used the steamboat and crew, together with the seining 

 gangs, in this work. We used the gill nets at the start, but 

 found more practical results were to be obtained by the use 

 of a small meshed seine, made of heavy twine. We have 



