385 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



The Barbel spawns in May and June on stones and gravel, 

 in a sharp stream from one to three or more feet deep ; the 

 eggs hatch out in a week or ten days. 



The Dace spawns in March or the beginning of April,- also 

 in sharp shallow streams. 



The Pope or Ruffe, so esteemed as a table fish on the Conti- 

 nent, spawns in March and April, when it seeks the mouths of 

 small streams to deposit its spawn on weeds and rushes. 



Note. — It must be remembered that fish spawn earlier in 

 mild open seasons than they do in cold seasons ; in fact, a late 

 cold spring will keep the fish back for weeks,- or even in some 

 cases for months. 



ACCLIMATISATION OF FOREIGN FISHES. 



We get such fine sea fish delivered at such a cheap rate, even 

 in our most inland districts, that it is not likely it will ever pay 

 to cultivate coarse fish for the market to any great extent — 

 although the Jews would always take a certain amount. But this 

 work considers fish chiefly from an angler's point of view, and 

 the question is, what foreign coarse fish are worth introducing ? 

 There are only two that I should care to see introduced, viz., 

 the pike-perch and the black bass, and they should only be tried 

 in such waters as will not support trout or grayling, or where 

 it is undesirable to keep up a stock of our own coarse fish. 



The black bass — thanks chiefly to the great interest 

 taken in it by the Marquis of Exeter— may be said to be 

 acclimatised here already. There are many thousands of them 

 now in the fine sheet of water called White-water, near Burgh- 

 ley House, Stamford, Lord Exeter's country seat In 1878 

 and 1879, •^'^- Silk, the able pisciculturist to the Marquis, 

 brought over from the United States nearly one thousand 

 young bass ; and he informs me that the fish have spawned the 

 last two or three seasons. Mr. Silk has since on two occasions 

 been sent to the States to obtain a further supply of these fish, 

 and they have been distributed among some half-dozen gentie- 



