44 American Fisheries Society. 



Dr. Osburn: There is no doubt that the female does spawn several 

 times; the eggs do not all mature at once, as they do in some fishes, and 

 ■can not all be spawned ot one time. I see no reason why they should 

 not go to any nest that was convenient. 



Mr. Titcomb: Do you find the large-mouth bass much more pre- 

 dacious or destructive of other fishes than the small-mouth? 



Dr. Osburn: I have no exact data on that, but judging from 

 stomach contents, I would hardly say so. 



Mr. Titcomb: Every time I have occasion to talk to a bunch of 

 sportsmen in Connecticut, they say that the large-mouth bass is very 

 destructive of other fishes; they attribute entirely to the large-mouth 

 the disappearance of bullheads from waters in which they had formerly 

 been very abundant. From what we have obsei-ved it is evident that 

 the bullheads decrease after the bass are introduced, and, in one instance 

 where the bass have been twelve years in quite a large body of water, 

 the bullheads have practically disappeared. I believe the majority of 

 the fishermen in Connecticut to-day are of the opinion that we would be 

 much better off if we did not have the large-mouth bass in the state at 

 all. 



Dr. Osburn: They are both, of course, feeders on bullheads to a 

 certain extent. The large-mouth bass lives in the quiet waters where 

 the bullheads are most frequently found, while the small-mouth prefer 

 the colder water and so do not come so largely in contact with bullheads. 

 That may, in part, be the answer. I have no evidence on the question 

 whether one is more predacious on the bullheads than the other, when 

 they can get at them. 



Mr. Titcomb: We have an interesting situation in Connecticut, 

 which I think I mentioned at the last meeting. In that state it is un- 

 lawful to fish in the municipal reservoirs because of the danger of 

 contamination, and we have concessions from the water companies all 

 over the state under which we remove from these reservoirs all the 

 adult fish that we can catch in large numbers by the use of trap nets. 

 This is along the line of the work Mr. Buller is doing and along the 

 line also of the work in Ohio. Last spring we took out something like 

 30,000 adult fish, including bass; in some instances we took small-mouth 

 bass up to six or seven pounds. In keeping these fish where they will 

 have a chance to reproduce before they are caught — we do not allow 

 them to be fished until after the first of July — we are doing more than 

 we could possibly accomplish by artificial spawn culture. We begin 

 this work next week and v/ill continue until the ice covers the lakes. 

 I think this is very much better than any attempt to propagate bass. 



Dr. Osburn: Both methods are good. I am disposed to favor the 

 hatchery for certain kinds of planting, but I do not believe we need 

 very much of that in the case of the large-mouth bass, because in the 

 waters in which they are chiefly found, in our smaller lakes, they are 

 taking care of themselves very well. At any time during the five years 

 that we have studied them in the small lakes, one could have taken 



