Osburn. — Conditions Detrimental to Bass. 29 



in anj^ exposed situation. In 1922 conditions were much im- 

 proved and young bass were to be found on all but the more 

 exposed coasts. In the present year (1923) the condition 

 of 1919 was again repeated; the season was rather late, the 

 water was slow in arriving at the breeding temperature and 

 when the season did open it came without storms or sudden 

 temperature changes. The result again was an enormous 

 hatch of the young bass on all the coasts around the Bass 

 Islands and the other islands in their vicinity. 



In smaller lakes and ponds storms do not play such 

 havoc as the waves do not reach such a depth as to wash out 

 or silt in the nests. The large mouthed bass is less affected 

 by such untoward conditions than the small-mouthed bass 

 for the reason that it is essentially a fish of the smaller lakes 

 and quieter waters. During the same five seasons v/hich I 

 have just described as affecting materially the reproduction 

 of the small-mouthed bass, the large-mouthed bass in the en- 

 closed harbors of Catawba Island only a few miles away 

 were not interfered with in their breeding operations andthe 

 production of young vv'as constant as far as could be deter- 

 mined. The sam.e M^as true in the smaller lakes of Ohio as 

 observed especially in the Portage lakes near Akron and 

 Buckeye Lake near the center of the state. The season 

 (1923) was not as favorable for the large-mouthed bass as 

 the four preceding years, because the shallower waters of 

 smaller lakes did M^arm up to the breeding temperature and 

 then drop again, causing many male bass to desert the nests 

 and many females to become egg-bound. 



It is doubtful just hov/ much parasitism and disease 

 check the production of adult bass, for the reason that it is 

 very difficult to estimate the losses produced in this way 

 and they are extremely variable. The black basses are 

 apparently not often subject to epidemic diseases such as 

 sometimes play havoc with trout and other fishes. How- 

 ever, they are occasionally found dead with the gills par- 

 tially sloughed away and probably an appreciable numberof 

 them die from bacterial diseases, especially those affecting 

 the gills. Parasites, on the other hand are quite numerous 

 and. it is rare to take a bass at any time of its life when it does 

 not harbor some of these unwelcome guests. In adult bass 

 they often occur in such numbers as to definitely injure the 

 host. Parasites in the skin or flesh, "grubs" as they are 

 usually called by the layman, may be present in such num- 

 bers that the fish are thin and gaunt and the flesh unfit for 

 human consumption. Tapeworms also occur sometim.es in 

 such numbers that the intestine is practically obstructed by 

 them. Larval tapeworms and other flatworms are also 



