PIKE AND BLACK BASS 133 



one hundred yearling bass was received from Ger- 

 many, where these fish are artificially reared. They 

 measured from three to four inches long, and only 

 one out of the hundred had died on the long journey. 

 The pond was drawn in April 1895. The net 

 was not satisfactory ; it had no bottom leads and no 

 end poles, so the catching of fish was extremely pro- 

 blematical. The first haul produced nothing but 

 two fine trout, which had no business to be there. 

 They must have harboured as fry in the rivulet 

 which feeds the pond, while the latter was dry, and 

 must, therefore, have been the same age as the bass. 

 The second haul was more successful. In spite of 

 numerous entanglements with snags and stones, 

 which deranged the net so that any fish of ordinary 

 intelligence might have swum under it, six bass in 

 lusty condition, with fine olive green backs and 

 white bellies, were drawn ashore. They were not 

 large not of a size to be risked in the lake they are 

 destined to populate, which swarms with pike. 

 They weighed little more than half a pound a piece, 

 or not more than half the weight of the trout, their 

 equals in age. Still, there they were, having escaped 

 all dangers from cormorants, herons, and, still more 

 deadly, eels. 



