388 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



and I can see no reason why this fish should not be equally valuable 

 in Great Britain. I quote from my own essay as follows : — - 



' Fish culturists have made many efforts to hatch the eggs of 

 the black bass, but have never succeeded. . . . This failure is the 

 less to be regretted since young bass may easily be transported 

 from place to place in barrels of cool water, and when once intro- 

 duced they soon multiply, if protected, to any desired number , 

 The first experiment in their transportation seems to have been 

 that of Mr. S. T. Tisdale, of East Wareham, Massachusetts, who, 

 in 1850, carried twenty-seven Large-mouths from Saratoga Lake, 

 N.Y., to Agawam, Mass. The custom of stocking streams soon 

 became popular, and, through private enterprise and the labour of 

 State commissioners, nearly every available body of water in New 

 England and the United States has been filled with these fish, and 

 in 1877 they were successfully carried to the Pacific coast. This 

 movement has not met with universal approval, for by the ill-advised 

 enthusiasm of some of its advocates a number of trout and bream 

 have been destroyed, and complaints are heard that the fisheries 

 of certain rivers have been injured. The general results, however, 

 have been very beneficial. The black bass will never become the 

 food of the millions, as may be judged from the fact that New 

 York market receives probably less than 60,000 lbs. annually ; yet 

 hundreds of waters are now stocked with them in sufficient num- 

 bers to afford pleasant sport and considerable quantities of excel- 

 lent food. " Valued as the brook-trout is for its game qualities," 

 writes Mr. Hallock, " widely di-stributed as it is, and much extolled 

 in song as it has been, the black bass has a wider range, and being 

 common to both cold and warm waters, and to northern and 

 southern climes, seems destined to become the leading game fish 

 of America, and to take the place of the wild brook-trout, which 

 vanishes like the aborigines before civilisation and settlements. ' ' 



I shall be very glad, then, if you will quote this letter as fully as 

 your space will allow, in justice to the black bass and its advocates, 

 as well as to myself. 



I am, yours truly, 



G. Brown Goode, 



Commissioner, 



As an enthusiastic angler for all kinds of fish, I should be 

 the last to advocate the introduction of a fish which would 

 spoil our sport. The- black bass will take any kind of bait 



