398 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



after having been a few months in England. An idea of the 

 cost of bringing Black Bass to England may be formed if I 

 mention that Buckland offered me some of his fish (as he said 

 very cheap) at thirty shillings a brace. These fish were not more 

 than three or four inches long. As Buckland still wished me 

 to try what I could do, I consulted Silk, and as we knew how 

 Useless it would be to try to get the spawn of the Black Bass 

 over here with any chance of its arriving in a hatchable state 

 (Black Bass spawn in June and July, when the weather is 

 too hot for bringing ova from America^ independent of other 

 reasons), Silk suggested that he should make some tanks on a 

 particular plan, and go over to America to see what he could 

 do towards getting a number of fry over. He started at the 

 end of September, 1879, and managed to bring back to Burghley 

 about six or eight hundred fry averaging between three and six 

 inches long. Of these, six hundred were turned into Whitewater, 

 where they have thriven wonderfully, both in size and numbers. 

 Silk has since made several successful excursions, bringing 

 over for myself and friends considerable numbers of the small 

 and large mouthed Black Bass. This year he has been unfor- 

 tunate, owing to the ship having been caught in a heavy gale 

 of wind, lasting for many days, so that the unfortunate fish 

 were nearly all lost by being rolled out of the ship through 

 the scuppers, or having their noses broken against the sides of 

 the tanks. 



My several importations of Black Bass into this country 

 have been distributed amongst various lakes and ponds in 

 England, including Sandringham, Rushden, Whitewater, and the 

 rivers Welland and Nene. In Scotland the Duke of Argyll has 

 turned into one of his lakes in Mull a considerable number of 

 Black Bass which Silk brought over for him last year, and 

 where they seem, from a specimen caught in a net, to have 

 thriven very rapidly. I believe that the Black Bass will be a 

 very valuable addition to all lakes, ponds, and rivers, where 

 pike and perch abound, and where trout and salmon do not 

 exist, as it is a very game fish when taken with either fly, 



