SPAWNING OF BLACK BASS 31 



bodies together, and thus assisting each other 

 in voiding the eggs and milt which issue almost 

 simultaneously, the eggs possibly an instant 

 ahead of the milt. If the eggs do not come 

 freely, the male will sometimes go to the length 

 of pressing the abdomen of the female with his 

 mouth, she working her tail rapidly as if to 

 loosen the tissues ; indeed, frequent and plainly 

 visible tremors shake both male and female 

 from head to taU throughout the entire process. 

 The female does not yield all her eggs at 

 once. The larger the fish and the warmer the 

 water the greater will be the number of eggs 

 deposited at a single spawning. As a rule, one 

 period of spawning covers about half an hour, 

 but even then there is not an uninterrupted 

 flow of eggs ; they issue in little spurts or jets, 

 from 30 to 60 seconds apart. There may be, 

 also, intervals from three to five minutes, dur- 

 ing which the pair swim around the nest, 

 coquetting with one another. At the end of 

 half an hour there is a cessation of egg-laying, 

 of indeterminate length, depending on the 

 temperature of the water and upon the condi- 

 tion of the female. As a rule, two or three 



