THE GERMAN CARP IN THE UNITED STATES. 597 
soft, and black on account of tne decayed vegetable matter. In this 
shallower area all about the bay carp were often very numerous. 
In the first place much time was spent in trying to learn whether 
the carp ever intruded in the central portion of the bay where the bass 
were nesting. It seemed very probable that they would cross the 
bass nesting-grounds, at least in going in and out of the bay. But I 
was never able to observe a single carp actually on these grounds, 
though I at one time frightened a number of them in near shore which 
started out in that direction. A fyke-net was set with a view to inter- 
cepting any carp that might cross the tract covered by the bass nests, 
but with negative results. These fish are so wary, however, that it is 
very doubtful whether they would have entered the net had they gone 
that way. At another place I at one time had a large minnow seine 
drawn over a portion of bottom where a few bass were breeding and 
where I had reason to suspect there were carp present. Besides the 
small fish captured the seine brought in a bass, a pike, and two carp, 
which seems to show that they may at times go in close proximity to 
the area covered by the breeding bass, if not actually upon it. 
In the bay mentioned above I built a scaffold at the border line 
between the bass grounds and the shore zone, with the idea of having 
a more commanding view of portions of both. On this I spent many 
hours of vigilant watch, and although a bass which had a nest near by 
- soon became accustomed to the structure and resumed his care of the 
egos in the nest, and although carp sometimes appeared within my 
range of vision in the water on the shoreward side, I never saw one 
of them on the outer side, where the bass nests were located. Since I 
have frequently seen schools of these fish lying quietly in water which 
seemed to present the same conditions, except that the bass were 
absent, I feel justified to some extent in concluding that as a general 
thing carp avoid the actual breeding areas of the bass. 
The question has often been raised, and has been much discussed, as 
to whether a black bass would drive a carp away from its nest. A 
number of opinions were expressed on the subject at the thirtieth 
annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society, held at Milwaukee 
in 1901 (see the Transactions of that meeting, published in the same 
year, pp. 114-132). It appeared to be the consensus of opinion of the 
gentlemen assembled there that the bass is fully able to take care of 
itself, while it was further claimed by some that the bass were actually 
increasing owing to the extra supply of food furnished by the young 
carp. Below are given some extracts from the discussion referred to: 
Mr. Tircoms. Is it not a base slander upon the bass to intimate that it would allow 
a carp to touch its spawn? 
Doctor Barrierr. I should think so. 
Mr. Bower. I think that where bass and carp inhabit the same water it is natural 
that the bass should increase. We have been hatching black bass for a number of 
seasons in ponds where we have had an opportunity to observe their spawning 
