THE BLACK BASSES. 59 
told, sometimes anticipate the ordinary season, while many late spawners 
are occupied with family cares until the last of July, and some young fish 
are not ready until October and November. After the spawning is over 
the Bass are ‘‘in season.’’ They take the hook eagerly from July till 
November. In the winter they are lank and black, though in season till 
the ice comes. 
Concerning their spawning habits, Mr. Hallock, of the Blooming Grove 
Association, wrote in 1875: ‘‘ Four years ago, one hundred and thirteen 
Black Bass from Lake Erie were placed in Lake Giles, and their progeny 
has increased so fast as to insure good sport to the angler at any time. 
The late spawners are now (early July) in the gravel beds, in the shallow 
waters along shore, protecting either their spawn or their newly-hatched 
fry, as the case may be. It is interesting to note the pertinacity with 
which they guard their precious charges, and the vigor with which they 
drive away depredators and intruders of all kinds. They will frequently 
allow a boat to pass over them, scarcely six inches above their backs, and 
obstinately keep their ground. Sun-fish and such are compelled to keep 
their distance. There are hundreds of these bowl-shaped excavations, 
eighteen inches or so in diameter, all along the sandy shallow shores of 
this lake, which is very clear, and in the center some seventy feet deep, 
fed by bottom springs.’’ 
The eggs are much smaller than those of a trout, and, being heavier 
than the water, rest on the bottom within the limits of the nest. The 
only estimate of their number with which I am familiar is that made by 
Mr. E. L. Sturtevant, who found about 17,000 in a Large-mouth weighing 
two and one-half pounds. 
The length of time required by the eggs in coming to maturity is esti- 
mated at from eight to ten days, the hatching being somewhat accelerated 
in warm weather. The young fish, when first hatched, are about three- 
eighths of an inch long. They are very active, and at once begin to 
feed. One observer describes them as darting rapidly about, looking like 
black motes in the water; while another has seen them lying motionless 
near the bottom, the school appearing like a floating vail of gauze. For 
a few days they may be seen playing about the nest, but they soon dis- 
perse, to find lurking places among the grass and pebbles near the margin 
of the water, and to begin their corsair career by preying upon the larve 
of insects and the minute crustaceans which abound in such localities. 
