32 FISH—CULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 
minus the barbed steel intestine. . It does not seem possible for 
any water to contain more food, in the shape of minnows, than 
a small pond in Northern New York; still this pond has yielded 
the largest small-mouthed bass of which I ever heard, and the. 
fishing is always good in season, and the bass are so fat that 
they seem stall-fed. Yellow perch appear to be a favorite food 
of the black bass, even in waters where other small fish are as 
plentiful as the perch. In the pond mentioned above are 
silver or gold shiners and “minnows” in swarms, and perch 
in equal quantities, but nearly every large bass that has been 
caught on a hook has been taken with yellow perch for bait. In | 
dressing bass caught in this pond, in Schroon Lake, in Lake 
George, in the Hudson River, and in Sacondaga River, I have 
found that a large majority of the bass have perch inside of them, 
when they have anything that can be identified. 
It is certainly more satisfactory to anglers to catch well-con- 
ditioned fish, and “it is more satisfactory to eat such fish, and I 
have no doubt but it gives the fish-culturists pleasure to pro- 
vide such fish, when the means at his command will enable him 
to do so. 
Mr. Pacr.—This paper by Mr. Cheney is a most interesting 
and timely one. Although the subject is not a new one it is one 
that will bear continued agitation. Too many people make 
ponds and put fish in them either to starve or to drag out a 
miserable existence. The cases cited by Mr. Cheney are to the 
point and show conclusively that attention should be paid to fish 
food as well as food fish. 
Mr. Matuer.—There is a popular idea that fish can live on 
water, an idea that it is unnecessary to tell this association is 
erroneous. That fish will live long without food is shown by 
that persecuted fish—the goldfish, which is kept for months 
in glass globes without food, the owners declaring that they live 
“on what they get from the water.” That newly hatched fish 
and small species get some microscopic food in ponds and 
streams is well known, but a fish a quarter of a pound weight 
requires something more substantial; besides fish do not breathe 
