BLACK BASS: SPAWNING. 183 



denscd account of the process, as furnished by the 

 Marquis of Exeter in a letter to the Secretary of 

 the National Fish Culture Association, of the 

 executive of which I was a member during its too 

 short existence. 



" The female bass deposits her ova at the bottom 

 of the nest, which she has prepared by scooping 

 out a hole in the gravel or mud in the bed of the 

 lake or river. These nests are nearly circular in 

 form, varying, according to the size of the fish, 

 from I to 2 or 3 feet in diameter. The female 

 lies on her side, and the male fish with his mouth 

 presses out the ova by a series of what look like 

 bites along her belly. The male then ejects the 

 milt over the eggs from time to time, and the 

 spawning process" lasts for two or three days. 

 The parent fish take the greatest care of the ova 

 and of their young when hatched, by swimming 

 round the nests and keeping off all intruders or 

 anything which is likely to injure the young brood. 

 When the young black bass are able to swim, one 

 of the parent fish accompanies them. I have seen, 

 on a hot, still day at White Water, the old bass 

 swimming leisurely about near the surface of the 

 water, surrounded by her family of young bass, 

 leading them in the same way that an old hen on 

 land goes about with her chickens." 



According to the late Mr. Frank Buckland, the 

 Murray River or Macquarie Cod (OH- Th 

 gorus Macquariensis] is an Australian Murray 

 member of the Percidcs family. It is one ,. od 



J ( Ohgonts 



of the largest, if not absolutely the largest, Macqttar- 

 of fresh-water fishes, and sometimes is tensts ^ 

 captured from 80 Ibs. to over 100 Ibs. weight. When 



