1-1-6 Thirli/srrnitli Ainnidl .Vretiii;/ 



WYcmenU aid little in (listiiiiiiiisliiii<i- the two races, and if iiorlli- 

 eni individuals are barred likt' the Ohio basin form, it will he 

 neeessai'v to revise our ideas about distribution at last. The nuis- 

 kaloui^-e in (']iautau(|ua \a\]<v has been known to reaeh a weight 

 of tifty pounds, and it is justly regarded as one of tlie l)est food 

 fishes of those waters. In the spring of 1895, when eggs were 

 l)eing collected for the Bemus Point Hatchery, it was not un- 

 usual to take individuals weighing from forty to fifty ])oun(ls. 

 and many fish ranging from twenty to thirty pounds were cap- 

 tured. 



When the lake becomes very clear, in February, the fish go 

 into deep water, and they live in deep water more or less all the 

 year. In winter, they frequent nearly the same localities as in 

 summer, usually in the vicinity of water plants. 



For fish culture operations pound nets are set at a numl)er 

 of places near Bemus Point as soon as the ice leaves the lake. 

 The fish l)egin to spawn a few days after the ice is out and con- 

 tinue until the latter part of April. They spawn in comparative- 

 ly shallow water, ten to fifteen feet deep or less. A few eggs 

 were found in the stomach of a catfish near the mouth of a creek 

 where the water was (mly five or six fet't dee]), and they were so 

 recently swallowed that they were uninjured, and some of them 

 were afterwards developed in the hatchery. 



The muskalonge does not resort to the gravelly bottoms, like 

 many other fish, but to mud, usually going into l)ays. 



The males are smaller than the females and very little milt 

 sutfices to fertilize a large number of eggs. A female weighing 

 thirty-five pounds yielded 255,000 ripe eggs. The eggs are about 

 one-eleventh of an inch in diameter, and 74,000 (ill a quart 

 measure. They are semi-buoyant and non-adliesive, like white- 

 fish eggs. Tender favorable circumstances about ninety-seven 

 per cent of the imi)regnated eggs have been hatclu'd. In the 

 earlv experiments with artificial culture some eggs were hatched 

 in fifteen days with a water temperature of fifty-five degrees 

 Fahreidieit. The fry when first hatched are very small and 

 (piitt' helpless. The yolk sac is absorbed in about fifteen days 

 in water at fifty-five degrees. 



According to E. W. Irwin, of Mayville, X. Y., he was the. 

 first to suggest a hatchery for muskalonge at Bennis Point. He 



