REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 65 
NEOSHO STATION, Missour!I (H. D. DEAN, SUPERINTENDENT). 
The fish on hand at the beginning of the year were carried until 
fall with comparatively light losses, and in October the distribution 
was commenced, the output amounting to 92,600 rainbow trout, 8,037 
black bass, 9,345 rock bass, 300 crappie, 2,700 strawberry bass, and 
0,700 bream. 
At the approach of the spawning season the trout were transferred 
to breeding ponds, but although in exeellent condition, the results 
were not satisfactory. Once a week the ponds were seined to prevent 
loss of eggs through the fish not entering the raceways, but despite 
this precaution the number secured was much smaller than usual. 
The first eggs were taken on December 10 and the last on Mareh 12, 
the 655 fish available yielding 473,503, an average of 723 eggs per fish. 
Of these only 60 per cent were eyed. 184,032 were sent to other sta- 
tions and to private applicants, and at the close of the year the stock 
of fingerlings on hand for fall distribution numbered 51,500. 
Early in July the black-bass ponds were drawn and 10,968 young fish 
transferred to troughs placed in the branch stream; 74 per cent of 
this number were successfully distributed in October and November. 
With abundance of suitable food there seems to be little difficulty in 
holding black bass through the summer at this station. Provision 
was made during winter for separating the breeders from the young 
fish by partitioning off a small portion of the ponds with wire screens, 
through which the young might pass and thus escape the old ones. 
At the close of the year large numbers of young fish were in evidence, 
but none had been transferred from the ponds. 
The ponds containing strawberry bass were not drawn until Sep- 
tember, as it is difficult to handle these fish during warm weather 
without loss, and it was thought best to allow them to remain undis- 
turbed until fall, but only 3,874. were found, and better results might 
possibly have been secured had the ponds been drawn earlier. 
The breeding crappie, 38 in number, were transferred to the ponds 
in the spring, and for the first time it was possible to observe their 
spawning habits. Their nests were placed close together and not far 
from the banks of the pond, 18 nests occupying a space of not more 
than 10 by 15 feet. In the act of spawning the fish remain nearly 
stationary, their bellies close together, but their bodies at an angle so 
that their backs are separated 2 or 3 inches. They will lie this way, 
bodies quivering, for a few seconds, then separate and take a turn 
around the nest. Sometimes one fish will visit several nests in suc- 
cession, but it could not be determined whether one fish spawned on 
more than one nest. The eggs are smaller than gold-fish eggs, and 
practically invisible unless drawn up in an examining tube. They 
hatch in about 50 hours, the fry being so small at first that they can 
hardly be seen in a pan of water. They are very active, but no screen 
is small enough to hold them, which explains why so many of them 
F. ©. 1901—5 
