221 



the great interest taken in it by the Marquis of Exeter 

 may be said to be acclimatised here already. There are 

 probably many thousands of them now in the fine sheet of 

 water called White-water, near Burleigh House, Stamford, 

 the country residence of his lordship. In 1878 and 1879, Mr. 

 Silk, the able pisciculturist to the Marquis, brought over 

 from the United States nearly one thousand young bass ; 

 and he informs me that the fish have spawned the last two 

 or three seasons. Last year Mr. Silk was sent to the States 

 to obtain a further supply of these fish, and they were dis- 

 tributed among some half-dozen gentlemen who had sub- 

 scribed towards the expenses of getting them over. I re- 

 ceived thirty of this lot, ranging in size from one and a 

 half pounds to a few ounces, and they appear to be doing 

 very well in a small sheet of water in which I have placed 

 them. Having for some years past strongly advocated the 

 introduction of this fine game and food fish into suitable 

 English waters, I was, in common with others interested 

 in this fish, extremely sorry to see, from the reports in the 

 papers, that Mr. Goode, the United States Commissioner, 

 had "warned English anglers against the black bass." I 

 felt convinced that Mr. Goode did not intend to warn us 

 against the introduction of this fish into any of our waters, 

 but only such as were suitable for Salmonidae. Knowing 

 that an expression of opinion on this matter from so high 

 an authority would have very great weight in this country, 

 I wrote to Mr. Goode to ask him if he intended his remarks 

 to apply to the introduction of the fish generally. His 

 reply was exactly what I expected it would be ; and I have 

 very great pleasure in reading it to you, because it will do 

 far more to remove any prejudice against the introduction 

 of the black bass into suitable English waters than any- 

 thing I can say : 



