]12 Book of the Black Bass. 



with the introduction of other game- and food-fishes. The 

 praiseworthy efforts that have hitherto been made to re- 

 populate streams formerly inhabited by salmon or brook 

 trout, have either totally failed, or the results, in a ma- 

 jority of instances, have not been at all satisfactory; nor 

 does it seem, now, as though these efforts will ever prove 

 successful, owing to causes which I have mentioned else- 

 where. 



Streams which are necessarily obstructed by dams, even 

 when the most approved fishways are provided, or whose 

 waters are polluted by the refuse of manufactories, can 

 never be successfully stocked with the salmonids; but the 

 black bass seems to thrive fairly well in spite of these and 

 other disadvantages. 



From what has been said in regard to their habits, it 

 will readily be seen that there is no necessity for hatching 

 black bass artificially, in the manner practiced with the 

 salmon, trout, or shad, nor would the method be as suc- 

 cessful, for reasons well known to fish culturists. 



The Salmonidce of the eastern United States, with the 

 exception of the grayling, prepare their beds and deposit 

 their spawn late in the fall, or early winter. This being 

 accomplished, all further interest in the procreation of their 

 species, for the time, ceases; the eggs are left to them- 

 selves, and such as escape being devoured by their nu- 

 merous enemies are hatched in from two to four months, 

 according to species and temperature of water. The 

 young are provided with a yolk-sac, which nourishes them 

 for a period of from twenty-five to forty-five days, varying 

 with the species, when they begin to look for other means 

 of subsistence. 



During all this time, from spawning until the absorption 

 of the yolk-sac, from three to six months as the case may 



