352 



Third Annual Report of tile 



Two years ago 150,000 fry were taken out of one pond and 

 placed in a larger and cleaner pond. At the end of a week, I 

 could find no trace of them. What became of them? This is a 

 problem I have tried hard to solve. It is true, we have many 

 snakes around the ponds, also frogs and turtles which destroy bass. 

 The men employed kill all they can catch from early spring until 

 late in the fall ; but what these enemies destroy is only a drop in 

 the bucket compared with the number that disappear. — Reported 

 by Dan E. Miller, Foreman, Constantia, N". Y., December 4, 1913. 



Food of Black Bass 



At the Linlithgo Station of the Conservation Commission, the 

 larvae of one of the black flies, (Simulium sp.) 7 forms a large 

 part of the early food of the small mouthed bass. 



Early in July, 1913, a collection of freshwater crustaceans 

 (Entomostraca) taken in the ponds of the Oneida Hatchery, was 

 sent to the U. S. National Museum, Washington, D. C, where 

 through the courtesy of the Assistant Secretary, Dr. Richard 

 Rathbun, the species were identified by Mr. A. A. Doolittle. Mr. 

 Doolittle's report upon these crustaceans which are found to form 

 the chief portion of the food of small mouthed black bass fry in 

 the spring and early summer months, is as follows : 



" The examination of the contents of the vial has been com- 

 pleted, and the ' natural food of young bass ' collected at Con- 

 stantia, on Oneida Lake, X. Y., June 5, 1913, by D. E. Miller, 

 as the contents are labeled, consists of: 



Percentage 



of 

 specimens 



Cyclops ater 



Cyclops serrulatus 



Sida crystallina 



Simocephalus vetulus . . . 

 Scapholeberis mucronata 

 Bosmina obtusirostris . . . 

 Chydorus sphaericus. . . . 

 Polyphemus pediculus . . 



Totals 



99.997 



" Polyphemus will usually predominate until late August as a 

 natural food for young fish living in lakes and feeding along 



