982 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OP FISHERIES. 



regard to feeding, and in all likelihood there is hardly a pisciculturist who would 

 be prepared to substitute the brook char, which can not be disposed of so easily 

 here, for the popular brook trout. For these reasons the breeding of the brook 

 char has been generally neglected in Austria for the last few years, and in some 

 fisheries has even been abandoned altogether. 



A promising future appears to lie before the purpurata. In growth it 

 develops as rapidly as the irideus and it thrives under the same conditions. 

 Its brilliant exterior and slender body, similar to that of the brook trout, are 

 advantages which must not be underestimated. So far, however, the purpurata 

 is bred in Austria only in isolated fisheries, and it would be premature to-day to 

 pronounce a definitive decision regarding the value of this beautiful fish to 

 breeders. 



The American black bass, Micropterus salnioides, is being bred in several 

 pond fisheries side by side with carp. The conditions of growth are favorable. 

 The objections raised against this fish are that it is a great truant and extremely 

 sensitive to the effects of muddy water, which latter occasions great losses in the 

 clearing out of ponds. There is also no great demand for the fish, though it is 

 fleshy and palatable, for the public show a certain aversion to the disproportion- 

 ate size of the head, which, in fact, equals a quarter of the weight of the whole 

 fish. As the fish is tenacious of life, however, can be easily transported, and is 

 not very dainty in feeding, it may be that in time it will become more popular, 

 especially if breeders succeed in producing it with a smaller head. In the 

 tributaries of the Danube and in pools and stagnant water it could not exist at all. 



The tiny California sheatfish is not yet well known in Austria, and as its 

 many good qualities are much underestimated it is not very popular. It is a 

 harmless fish, extremely tenacious of life, and, like the black bass, is often bred 

 in carp ponds. As it is a decided mud fish, attempts have been made to introduce 

 it in waters in which our finer fish have been destroyed through the discharge 

 of factory refuse, river regulating works, and exploitation of water power. The 

 tiny sheatfish has fulfilled all the hopes placed in it and thrives splendidly even 

 in strongly polluted waters. Though it offers only an inferior substitute for our 

 better kinds of fish, it may yet perhaps be destined to play an important part in 

 Austrian pisciculture. 



From all this it follows that our most precious acquisition from America is 

 the rainbow trout, as we do not yet sufficiently know the purpurata, provided 

 that we shall be able to renew the breed by the speedy importation of eggs from 

 America, and in this conviction we heartily join the Austrian pisciculturist who 

 writes at the close of his observations, "May our friends in America add a new 

 gift to that which they have made us already in the irideus, and give us a little 

 from their superabundance. The fish breeders of Austria would be very grateful 

 to them." 



