76 Book of the Black Bass. 



and become glued to the pebbles or sticks contained therein. 

 The eggs are hatched in from one to two weeks depend- 

 ing on the temperature of the water, but usually in from 

 eight to ten days. 



When hatched, the young bass are almost perfectly 

 formed, from one-fourth to one-half of an inch in length, 

 and cover the entire bed, where they can be easily detected 

 by their constant motion. After hatching, the young fry 

 remain over the bed from two to seven days, usually ' three 

 or four, when they retire into deep water, or take refuge 

 in the weeds, or under stones, logs, and other hiding- 

 places. 



During the period of incubation the nests are carefully 

 guarded by the parent fish, usually by the males, who re- 

 main over them, and by a constant motion of the fins, 

 ■ create a current which aerates the eggs and keeps them 

 free from all sediment and debris. After the eggs are 

 hatched, and while the young remain on the nests, the 

 vigilance of the parent fish becomes increased and un- 

 ceasing, and all suspicious and predatory intruders are 

 driven away. 



Their anxiety and solicitude for their eggs and young, 

 and their apparent disregard of their own safety at this 

 time, is well-known to poachers and pot-fishers, who take 

 advantage of this trait and spear or gig them on their 

 nests. They also take them with the minnow or crawfish. 

 Of course the bass do not "bite" at this season, volun- 

 tarily, but when the bait is persistently held under their 

 noses, they at first endeavor to drive it away or remove it 

 from the nests, and finally, I think, swallow it in sheer 

 desperation. 



Major Isaac Arnold, Jr., while in command of the 

 Arsenal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, prepared a small pond in 



