178 Thirty-fourth Annual Meeting. 
May 26, 1905. 
Eges all hatched, thus making the spawning and hatching 
period eleven days, in a mean temperature of 63° Fahr. 
The nests were nearly all screened on the sixth day after 
hatching, and on the seventh and eighth days the fry had risen 
to the surface, and the distribution was commenced. Tempera- 
ture of the water at this time was 69°. Very few were put out 
as fry, and this in not to exceed a period of five days, for there- 
after the fry requiring food it is necessary to discontinue the 
distribution. At this point it might be well to say that the dis- 
tribution of small mouth bass as fry is not considered advisable 
where they are to be in transit to exceed ten or twelve hours. 
The young bass begin to change in color from the black to 
a mottled green in from ten to twelve days after rising, in a 
temperature of about 70°. This latter was registered by the 
thermometer during June and the fore part of July, with an 
occasional day when it reached 80°. 
In summing up the observations and experiments in connec- 
tion with Pond P, the question naturally arises as to why cer- 
tain artificial nests were left, and natural nests, in deeper water, 
cleaned up and used instead. Also why did the eggs die on four 
of the artificial nests, and again why did the fish die on two 
natural nests and on one of the artificial. In my judgment all 
of these questions are to be answered by saying the fish were 
handled too near the time of spawning. No fault whatever, 
could be found with the fish at the time of moving from the 
ponds in which they had been through the winter. They were 
in excellent condition. In fact, comment was made by the en- 
tire force at the time as to the plumpness of the fish, both male 
and female. 
From the experience the past two seasons, it has been fairly 
well demonstrated that from twenty-five to thirty artificial 
nests, arranged in favorable locations, would be most productive 
of results in an area of water equal to Pond P, or seven-tenths 
of an acre. It has also been decided that the previous fall the 
ponds should be thoroughly cleaned, and nothing left to be done 
the following spring except to place the nests. At the time of 
cleaning in the fall, the ponds should be drained perfectly dry, 
