FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



diminished by the particuhir state of these conditions. In the 

 opinion of the writer, hibernation of animals is influenced as 

 much (if not more) by the supply of food as by the state of the 

 temperature. This is proven by the fact that while the black 

 bass hibernates, other fishes in the same waters are active dur- 

 ing the entire winter ; and this fact may be accounted for by a 

 lack of the principal food of the hibernating species, and an 

 abundance of the particular food of the non-hibernating species, 

 for it is not likely that the temperature, /^r se, would affect one 

 species more than another. To illustrate : The principal food 

 of young black bass (say from six months to a year old) con- 

 sists of insects, and of adult bass, of crawfish and other Crus- 

 tacea, and both of these classes of food are very scarce during 

 the winter months in the North and West. On the other hand, 

 pike, pickerel, pike-perch and other exclusively piscivorous 

 fishes find an abundance of certain species, as minnows, yellow 

 perch, etc. 



To be sure the black bass feeds on minnows and yellow perch 

 occasionally, but not to any great extent, nor for choice; its 

 weak brush-like teeth are not so well adapted for a fish diet as 

 the canine-teethed fishes above mentioned. And this is one of the 

 strongest arguments in support of the fact of their hibernation, 

 for were the black bass as piscivorous as many would have us 

 believe, there would be no necessity for their winter seclusions 

 on account of a lack of this kind of food. Of the two species 

 of black bass the large-mouthed bass feeds more upon minnows 

 than the small-mouthed bass, and hence is taken oftener during 

 the winter. In the extreme Southern States the supply of 

 crawfish and insects is constant, consequently the black bass 

 does not hibernate in that region. Among the hibernating 

 mammals the black bear, in the extreme South does not under- 

 go the winter sleep of his Northern brethren because he finds 

 his food abundant at that season. And even in the North, dur- 

 ing mild winters when food can be procured, the black bear 

 has been known to depart from his usual habit, and has been 

 killed when roaming abroad, when he should have been asleep 

 in his winter den; but such rare exceptions merely prove the 



