NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL CONDITIONS DETRI- 

 MENTAL TO THE BLACK BASSES 



By Raymond C. Osburn 

 Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 



The black basses are outstanding among the game fishes 

 of the fresh waters of America. Whether, as many sports- 

 men maintain, they outrank all others in this respect, weneed 

 not discuss here. They have this advantage, at least, that 

 they appeal to a much larger and more widely distributed 

 population than any other game fishes, since the two species, 

 the large mouthed and small mouthed, which we shall con- 

 sider together for the sake of brevity, range from the Atlan- 

 tic States to the Great Plains and from the Gulf States far in- 

 to Canada and live in lakes, ponds, large rivers and smaller 

 creeks. They are important in that they yield a large 

 amount of food of excellent quality. 



Time was, — and that not so very long ago, — when all the 

 waters of suitable size in the eastern half of the United 

 States were supplied with these fishes to the full extent of 

 the balance of nature. Such is no longer the case, owing to 

 the checks which man has placed on their reproduction and 

 development, and these and other fish now find existence 

 impossible in multitudes of streams and some lakes and 

 ponds. 



There has been much discussion of the possibilities of 

 bass propagation, in fisheries associations and sportsmens' 

 organizations, but still it appears to be worth while to dis- 

 cuss the various conditions which limit the production of 

 bass, and to attempt to estimate their future and the chances 

 of increasing their numbers, — a thing so near to the heart of 

 the large number of American anglers. 



Let us first consider the various factors which limit re- 

 production and growth. Any given body of water under a 

 state of nature will produce only a certain number of adult 

 bass, depending especially upon the food supply, natural en- 

 emies and conditions for reproduction. As a very great 

 over supply of eggs and young are usually produced, we may 

 assume that the maximum number of adult fishes possible 

 under the living conditions are continually present in a state 

 of nature. The question arises whether it is possible to im- 

 prove upon nature and to produce a larger number than 

 could exist under natural conditions. We know that this 



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