46 THE PROVENCHER SOCIETY 



Large-mouth and the Small-mouth dwell together in the Great 

 Lakes, and in the upper parts of the Saint-Lawrence and Mississippi 

 basins. The small-mouth is found north to latitude 47° and west 

 to Wisconsin, while southward it ranges to latitude 33°. 



Ihe species usually found in the Province of Quebec is the 

 small-mouthed bass. It exists in many localities in the St. 

 Lawrence and its principal tributaries, especially the Ottawa, 

 and is common in Lake St. Louis, the Lake of Two Mountains, 

 Lake St. Peter, etc., as well as in many of the more inland lakes 

 such as Thirty-Two mile lake. Blue Sea lake, LakeBrome, Lake St. 

 Joseph, etc. In some of these lakes it exists together with the 

 speckled trout, but it is an undoubted error to plant the two species 

 in the same waters. If the bass does not entirely exterminate the 

 trout it certainly keeps down their number, except in very large 

 bodies of water, by devouring the young. 



The eggs are much smaller than those of a trout, and, beilig 

 heavier than the water, rest on the bottom within the limits of 

 the nest. About seventeen thotisand have been found in a Large 

 mouth weighing two and one-half pounds. The rate of growth is 

 easily determined by experience in artificial ponds. In Granby, 

 Connecticut, four-pound fish were taken in 1874, the progeny of 

 two hundred and fifty fishes placed in the pond in 1868. The egg 

 require two or three weeks to hatch. The parents watch them. 

 In September the young are about two inches long; when well fed 

 they grow to four inches the first season. At two years of age 

 they weigh about a pound, few caught in the North weighing more 

 than four pounds. Leaving the egg in June, they grow to two or 

 three inches before cold weather begins* — trim, sprightly little 

 darters, with black bands across the bases of their tails. Another 

 twelve months finds them in the garb of maturity, eight or nine 

 inches long, and with their organs swelling in preparation for the 

 act of spawning, which they are said to undertake at the age of 

 two years, and when less than a foot long. The ordinary size of 

 the adult fish is two and one-half to three pounds, though they are 

 sometimes taken in the North weighing six or seven pounds. 



Fish-culturists have made many efforts to hatch the eggs of 

 the Black Bass, and have never succeeded. One reason for their 

 failure, perhaps, lies in the fact that while in the shad, salmon 

 and trout the eggs fall from the ovaries into an abdominal cavity, 

 whence they are easily expressed, in the bass and other spiny 

 rayed fishes they are retained until the parent fish are ready to 

 deposit them. This failure is the less to be regretted since the 

 young bass may easily be transported from place to place in barrels 

 of cool water, and, when once introduced, they soon inultiply, 

 if protected, to any desired number. 



Both the nests and the young fish are carefully guarded bj'^ 

 the parent bass. It is interesting to note the pertinacity with 

 which they guard their precious charges, and the vigor with which 

 they drive away depredators and intruders of all kinds. They 

 will frequently allow a boat to pass over them, scarcely six inches 

 above their backs, and obstinately keep their ground. Sutifish 

 and such like are impelled to keep their distance. 



