American Fisheries Society. 159 



ately began to make a new nest just at one side of the buried fry. 

 When the new nest was ready, the females came in and spawned 

 a second time. The male then gave his attention to their eggs, 

 driving away intruders. In due time the buried fry came up 

 out of the sand and started out in life on their own hook, while 

 the male remained on duty. 



Secretary: Since the meeting at Woods Hole, Mr. Beeman 

 writes as follows regarding the subject of bass spawning : 



"Since my return from the meeting of the American Fisher- 

 ies Society at Woods Hole, Mass., I have taken time to look over 

 my memoranda of what took place at our hatchery during the 

 spawning season. I find that the three spawning periods ex- 

 tended over a period of seven weeks. The first eggs were depos- 

 ited on May 10th, and the last nest was deserted on June 28th. 

 The third spawning was a total loss. Water temperature at the 

 time fell to 59°, and may have been responsible for the loss. 

 Had this last spawning hatched the period would have been ex- 

 tended some two weeks, had the fry fully developed. There were 

 twenty-four breeding bass in ponds, eight of which were males. 

 One was a small bass of about one-half pound which did not 

 select a nest or spawn so far as I am able to discover, so I am un- 

 certain as regards its sex. 



"This would leave fifteen females, which gave twenty-eight 

 separate deposits of spawn during the three spawning periods. 

 As I am unable to identify all of the females I cannot say posi- 

 tively that they all spawned even once, but from the fact that 

 there was twenty-eight separate deposits of eggs during the 

 three periods, it clearly shows that the greater part of the fe- 

 males spawned at least twice. 



"As I was able to identify some of the males, I find that two 

 of them actually gave their attention to five females each dur- 

 ing the spa^^Tiing period of forty-nine days. 



"Another pcciiliar and interesting thing in connection with 

 the spawning habits of the small-mouth black bass was observed 

 during the first spawning period. On May 11th two 

 males had selected boxes Nos. 2 and 3, and were each 

 giving their attention to a female in their respective 

 boxes. Male in box Xo. 2 about two and one-half 

 pounds. His mate about same weight. Male in box N'o. 



