INTRODUCTION 



were known to decline food entirely in the winter. 

 In summer the fish loves to he under overhanging 

 and brush-covered banks or concealed among the 

 water-plants ready to pounce upon its prey. 



The small-mouthed black bass is a lover of clear, 

 pure, swift streams from the upper parts of the 

 St. Lawrence basin and the Great Lakes region 

 through the basin of the Mississippi. East of the 

 Alleghanies it is native to the head waters of the 

 Ocmulgee and the Chattahoochee. North of these 

 streams it has been introduced almost everywhere. 

 It has been transplanted to Western States, to 

 England, France, Germany, and Finland, — per- 

 haps without success in the last-named country. 

 This is very good evidence of the esteem in which 

 the smaU-mouthed bass is held. There is no more 

 popular fish in our fresh waters. 



This bass, like its large-mouthed relative, is a 

 nest-builder. Spawning occurs from March to 

 July. The hatching occupies from seven to four- 

 teen days. The eggs are very small and very 

 adhesive; they are bound together in bands or 

 ribbons and adhere to the stones of which the nest 

 is constructed. A single female wUl yield from 

 2,000 to 10,000 eggs, which vary from 80,000 to 

 100,000 to the quart. The nest and young are 

 very carefully protected by both parents until the 

 young cease swarming, after which the adults are 

 not fit company for their own children, because 



