68 Modern Fishculture in Fresh and Salt Water. 



quote the following, concerning traps, from his 

 paper : 



"Location. — ^The location of a trap should be made at 

 a point where it is least likely to be inundated or washed 

 out by freshets, which would allow the escape of many 

 fish when they are most likely to be running in greatest 

 numbers. A point on the stream near its mouth is ad- 

 vised, or at some place below any possible spawning 

 bed, but not near enough to the outlet to be affected by 

 back water from the pond. It is desirable to have a 

 slight fall of water at the entrance to the trap. In 

 order to avoid washouts, the selection of a point where 

 the channel is broad is preferable. The slats of the 

 weir occupying about four-fifths of the natural water- 

 way will act as a barrier to raise the water above its 

 natural level, more or less. 



"Construction. — The trap is a V-shaped inclosure de- 

 scribed by the mathematical term, 're-entering poly- 

 gon,' made of slats varying in dimensions with the 

 size of the stream and the force of the current. I used 

 slats I inch square, planed on two sides, driven into the 

 bed of the brook vertically, about I inch apart, and 

 nailed to horizontal timbers or hewn logs. This frame- 

 work of horizontal timbers consists of one course laid 

 at water level and a parallel course at the extreme 

 height of the weir. The general idea of such a trap is 

 the same as the pound net, there being an opening of 

 4 or 5 inches in the angle of the V. A gate can be ar- 

 ranged in the entrance with a lever reaching to some 

 point obscured from the view of the entrapped fish, 

 which can be lowered whenever the trap is approached 

 for inspection. This method of trapping trout is not 

 new, but requires more precautions than for the cap- 

 ture of other fish less active and gamy, and a few words 



