Carter. — The Top Minnow 103 



bus, Georgia, forty miles distant, and from the Fisheries 

 Station, during the years following, this little fish was in- 

 troduced into nearby waters and now it is found in prac- 

 tically all of the ponds and streams in that vicinity. 



The subject of my paper is viviparous (that is, it gives 

 birth to its young, instead of depositing eggs as do al- 

 most all other fishes) and I have taken from the little 

 bodies of the females from six to thirty young minnows. 

 These females were from an inch and a quarter to two 

 inches long. 



In the early stages of its development the unborn young 

 is enclosed in a sac or shell 3/32 of an inch in diameter. 

 At birth the young fish is from 3/16 to y 2 inch in length 

 and at that time it becomes at once a free swimmer. 



I do not know the exact duration of their period of re- 

 production, but from their earliest activity in the station 

 ponds, about the first of March, the females contain well 

 developed eggs and on October 15th, I found 24 young, in 

 the egg stage, in a specimen two and one-fourth inches 

 long. 



When putting up bass and sunfish fingerlings for dis- 

 tribution, a few top minnows usually find their way into 

 the cans with the other fish. These cans are placed under 

 small jets of cold spring water over night to harden the 

 fish in order that they may better stand shipment. The 

 invariable report of messengers has been that the top 

 minnows were very tender and that they died shortly af- 

 ter leaving the station. Accordingly it was decided to 

 conduct an experiment that would determine the proper 

 method of handling them. 



The following is a memorandum submitted by Mr. G. 

 H. Gill, fish culturist at the Cold Spring Station: "At 

 2 :30 P. M. 250 top minnows were counted into a ten gal- 

 lon can half filled with water. The fish were counted 

 from the rearing ponds at a temperature of 65 degrees 

 into tempered spring water at 67 degrees. The fish 

 were placed under running water, 62 degrees, for the 

 night, a very small stream flowing into the can. At 9:00 

 A. M. next day 30 dead fish were removed from the can 



