American Fisheries Society. 153 
first hatchings had been taken two days before, were reoc- 
cupied and spawned upon. All of these nests proved productive 
though the average per nest was smaller than the first crop. 
Owing to warmer weather and water, the fry from the second 
spawning were ready for the screens June 6th, or only eight 
days after the eggs were laid. Here, then, were twenty-three 
nests of eggs in the two crops, all productive but one, and only 
twenty male and twenty-eight female bass in the pond; so that 
at least three males must have mated a second time, while, ap- 
parently five females did not spawn at all. 
In regard to the shipping stage for young bass, I think that 
they should not be sent out as fry, that is, at the swimming up 
point. The large-mouth fry are extremely small and helpless 
at first, and while the small-mouth fry are much larger, the 
instinct of fear is undeveloped, and this, in connection with their 
color, a jet black, makes them a conspicious and easy prey for 
their enemies. They should be held at least until they have as- 
sumed the color and form of mature fish, a period of ten days to 
three weeks in our locality. Beyond this point, however, there 
is danger of losses by cannibalism, increasing as the disparity 
in rate of growth becomes more marked. We recently had this 
experience at Mill Creek, in a pond of small-mouths held until 
forty to sixty days old. Fingerlings were opened and found to 
contain two or three undigested bass of about half-fingerling 
size, while one greedy fellow was actually seen to seize his own 
tail and swallow himself. It is evident that the young in rear- 
ing ponds should be thinned out and shipments commenced as 
soon as they are one and one-half inches in length; otherwise 
the increasing demand for food soon overreaches the food-pro- 
ducing capacity of the pond. I believe that it is not profitable 
to hold them very long after there is much variation in size, at 
least until we have learned how to provide their natural food, or 
a substitute, in sufficient volume for their needs. ‘This season 
we discovered that there was a great deal of food in the ponds, 
suitable for fingerlings, that was made available only when the 
vegetation was raked up and washed out. By stirring up the 
bottom and raking out the chara and other vegetation and rins- 
ing it off, a surprising quantity of food, chiefly very small 
shrimp, was driven from cover—*“‘flushed” so to speak, for the 
