248 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



have been known to bite a two-pound fish clean in two, at the very first snap. They 

 are as tenacious of life as the eel." He further adds: "The young when about six 

 inches long make a famous bait for pickerel and pike. .... Put one hundred in a 

 rain barrel and you can keep them all summer without change of water. For the 

 aquarium the young have no equal, and on account of the spot in the tail are quite 

 attractive. But nothing else but snails can live in the tank. He will kill a lizard or 

 any other living thing the instant it touches the water." 



Dr. Estes, also quoted in Goode's work, deserves the credit for the earliest known 

 observations on the nesting habits of Amia. His notes are in the main confirmed by 

 later authors. He describes the splashings of the fish "on certain days" — i. c, when 

 spawning — the position of the spawning places, the season of oviposition, the duration 

 of hatching, the attendance of the mate, and the later history of the young fish. A 

 portion of his account deserves to be given in detail: "I have sent these young dog- 

 fish hundreds of miles for the aquarium. It is only necessary to keep them in water, 

 a change scarcely being required. The adults are the great "jumpers" of the lake. 

 On certain days they are to be seen in all directions jumping clean out of the water, 

 and turning complete somersaults before again striking. They spawn in May and 

 June among the grass and weeds of the sloughs, if they can reach them in time. As 

 soon as the spring rise comes, usually in May and June, and connects the inland 

 sloughs with the lake [Pepin], they run up and over into the sloughs, deposit their 

 eggs, and remain near the beds and young just as long as they can and not be shut in 

 by the receding water. The eggs hatch in eight and ten days, the parents remaining 

 with the brood two or three weeks,, if possible, but will leave them much sooner, if 

 necessary, to save themselves. The young will not make any effort to escape to the 

 lake until the next season, when, if an opening occurs, they come pouring out in 

 countless numbers. At this time we take them by stretching the minnow seine across 

 the opening and raising it when full. They are now from three to six inches long, fat 

 and chubby." 



In general appearance Amia suggests somewhat the catfish. It is heavy bodied 

 with a large and somewhat depressed head, and a well-rounded snout. In its move- 

 ments it gives one a suggestion of its great strength. When observed cautiously it 

 appears slow and deliberate, with the air of a creature which dreads no enemy; when 

 startled, however, it pushes through the water quickly but clumsily. In shallows it 

 often breaks the surface of the water and leaves a wake behind. In point of size the 

 male and female differ notably. The female sometimes measures four feet in length, 

 and weighs perhaps thirty pounds; the male is smaller and relatively of less weight. 

 The sexes also differ in their coloration: at breeding time the male presents quite a 

 brilliant appearance. Its color is chrome green, fading away into orange-yellow and 



