146 Thiiiy-uijifh /hiuiial Mcctuuj 



(!(i nut rcquiro a great How of water; but in order to keep them healthy 

 rhey must be liberally fed, not only through the summer, fall and 

 spring, but during the winter. The manner of feeding in tlie winter 

 is to cut a hole through the ice and sink to within a foot of tlie linttom 

 a wire basket filled with cut liver. The catfish feed therefrom \ery 

 readily and emerge in the spring fine and plump and in good condition 

 for spawning. I suppose we now have at our hatcheries from 7()().()()l) 

 to 800,000 young catfish ready for shipment. 



In the propagation of calico bass we had better success wliere the 

 water was a little cloudy. We experienced no particular difficulty, but 

 the nests were built so deep that there was little opportunity to examine 

 their character or the spawning habits of the fish. Some nests were 

 found in eight feet of water and often only the appearance of the young 

 fish around the shores led to the discovery of a nest. 



'SIk. Wakd T. Bower: Tn regard to Air. Meehan's remarks, it seems 

 advisalde to call attention to the fact that he has licen discussing the 

 yellow catfish — Amc'mrus nebulosits — which is quite different from the 

 species referred to in Mr. Leary's paper. 



Mr. Meehax : Entirely different. 



AIr. Bower : So that the failure Air. Lcary has met with perhaps 

 cannot be explained by Mr. Meehan's remarks. 



AIr. AIeehan: We absolutely failed with the spotted catfisli, just as 

 Mr. Leary did. In fact we gave it up three or four years ago, because 

 we were imable to do anything with them. 



AIr. W. J. O'Brien, Gretna, Nebraska : What do you call an ordinary 

 sized fish pond. 



Mr. Meehan: One of our successful ponds is about 150 feet square, 

 another is 200x50 feet. I call them rather small ponds, but five or six 

 of them furnish us about 700,000 or 800,000 fish. 



President: I think some of you will recall the fact that many years 

 ago the calico bass was introduced into France, and th^t an accoimt 

 of the spawning habits and nest building of the fish was published in a 

 French fish cultural journal, "Pisciculture," I believe. The article 

 appears in one of the bulletins or reports of the United States Fish 

 Commission and corresponds very closely with the description given 

 l)y Air. AIeehan as to the nest building and depth of water in which 

 they spawned, also the comparative ease with which the young fish may 

 be produced. 



AIr. Charles W. Burnham: At the Tupelo, Mississippi, station we 

 propagate crappie and bream in one pond about an acre and a half in 

 size. They spawn in comparatively shallow water, about two feet deep. 

 When this pond was drawn last fall we collected from it 9,600 crappie 

 and over 10,000 bream. It is supplied principally w^ith artesian well 

 water and contains a heavy growtli of pond plants. It also receives 

 muddy surface drainage water in the spring, which seems to bear out 

 the statement of the other gentlemen that crappie breed best where 

 the water is somewhat roily. I also think that they require an abun- 

 ilance of vegetation, 



