The Sunfish Family • 43 



blind of bushes on the bank. This I did for 

 several years, turning the adult bass into the 

 lake when the fry were large enough to look out 

 for themselves, and turning the fry out also in the 

 fall. 



I extended my observations of the bass during 

 their breeding season to the many lakes near by. 

 I found a difference of several weeks in the time 

 of their spawning in these lakes, owing to the 

 difference in temperature, caused by their vary- 

 ing depth. The appearance of the bass also dif- 

 fered slightly in the various lakes, so that it was 

 possible, from a close study of their variations in 

 color, size, and contour, to determine in what par- 

 ticular lake any string of bass was taken. 



About the same time, from 1868 to 1870, Mr. 

 Cyrus Mann and Mr. H. D. Dousman established 

 their trout hatchery and ponds not far from Oco- 

 nomowoc, and Colonel George Shears, of Beaver 

 Lake, a few miles away, also began hatching trout 

 on a smaller scale. These establishments pre- 

 sented an opportunity to study the artificial propa- 

 gation of brook-trout, and I soon became familiar 

 with the modus operandi. This was before the 

 institution of the United States Fish Commission, 

 though the state of Wisconsin already had an able 



