Insects, etc., of Caledonia Creek, 95 



It is not to be expected that many of our waters will require cultivation, in 

 order that they shall yield an ample return for the comparatively trifling labor 

 and expense attendant upon the present system of pisciculture. It is not im- 

 probable that careful observation, or a series of experiments, may admit of so 

 judicious a planting in each locality of the species of fish fitted for, and adapted 

 to, the particular locality, that nothing farther shall be necessary. The food 

 required may be there already, although not detected by us. The shallow rivulet 

 may contain its myriads of crustacean and insect forms, so small as to have 

 escaped the eye. The bottom of the lake may be alive with Crustacea, whose 

 presence is first disclosed to us by the dredge, or in the examination of the 

 stomach of a bottom-feeding fish.* 



But it may be desirable that localities already producing largely should 

 double their product ; then, of necessity, cultivation must be resorted to As 

 very few of our fields or gardens are so bountifully supplied by nature with all 

 the elements requisite for an abundant annual harvest, that they do not need a 

 return to be made of some of the substances entering into the production of the 

 crops which are taken from them, so we may not expect that our waters are to 

 be brought up to the standard of their greatest productiveness, without some 

 provision for the larger draft made upon them. The food-supply must be in- 

 creased by successive plantings, as provision for the greater size or increased 

 numbers of the consumers. 



Again, as there are soils which are wanting in nearly every element, except 

 moisture, of proper plant-growth, so there are waters, which, from some cause, 

 may be destitute of fish-food. If desirable to render these productive, the food 

 must be supplied. Were it necessary that this should be done annually, as with 

 a barren field, the attempt at reclamation would seem a hopeless one ; but the 

 entomologist, with a knowledge of the prolific nature of many species, their rapid 

 development, the successive broods throughout the year, offers the encourage- 

 ment of the probability that a single planting of insect life, under favoring con- 

 ditions, would perpetuate itself. 



The considerations above advanced, together with others which have pre- 

 sented themselves to me, lead me to regard the suggestion made by your board, 

 of super-adding to the planting of fishes that of the planting of fish-food, as one, 

 which, if it be successfully carried into effect, will mark a new era in pisciculture. 

 By its means, every body of water, suited by nature for the purpose, could be 

 made productive, and the productiveness of those already remunerative largely 

 augmented. 



THE PRACTICABILITY OF TRANSPLANTING FISH-FOOD. 



The transplanting of food as proposed would be attended with little difficulty. 

 The insects, crustaceans and other animal forms could be collected from ponds 

 or streams in which they abound, and, with mosses and aquatic plants placed in 

 large cans filled with water, such as are employed for the transportation of young 

 fish. In this manner, they could bo sent to any locality within the State, which 

 could be reached within a reasonable time, accompanied with such instructions 

 for placing them in the water, as are now sent with the shipments of young fish. 



A still more convenient method would be to substitute for the cans, as requir- 

 ing less care in handling, boxes, kegs or barrels, to be lightly filled with the 

 plants containing the several forms as collected. Or, when it is desirable to send 

 larger numbers of the insect and crustaceans, the packages could be filled with 

 successive layers of aquatic plants or mossess, and animal forms — so lightly packed 



* See page 90, for the discovery of My sis relicta in Lake Michigan. 



