The Scuds 393 



and dodge like a rabbit. It feeds on a great variety of 

 both living and dead herbage. It is itself a favorite 

 food for most fishes.* 



The scuds are easily managed in pond culture. They 

 are not remarkably prolific. As already mentioned on 

 page 190, the possible progency of a single pair in one 

 year is somewhat less than 25,000. But they carry 

 their young in a pectoral brood pouch until well equipped 

 for life. 



The chief merits of the scuds as forage organisms 

 (in addition to desirability as food) lie in their hardi- 

 ness, their ability to find a living and to take care of 

 their own young until well started in life, their constant 

 succession of overlapping broods thro the season and 

 their permanent residence in the water. 



There are other herbivorous crustaceans of some- 

 what similar habits, among which the fresh- water 

 prawn, Palaemonetes, is probably useful as fish forage. 



Midge larvce — Larvae of midges of the genus Chirono- 

 mus popularly known as "blood-worms" (fig. 236) are 



Fig. 236. A "blood-worm." 



of prime importance as fish food. Small ones are eaten 

 almost as universally as are plancton entomostraca, 

 and the large ones continue to be eaten whenever 

 obtainable by fishes as large as adult trout and white- 



*Its value has long been recognized bj' fishermen; on account of its abund- 

 ance in an excellent trout stream at Caledonia, N. Y., it has been locally known 

 as the "Caledonia shrimp." 



