THE GERMAN CARP IN THE UNITED STATES. 603 



ination of these stomachs had been made, and it was stated that no 

 white-fish spawn had been found. When a more careful examination 

 was made later, one white-fish egg was found among the contents of 

 each of two stomachs. (See Nos. 23 and 24, p. 572.) The rest of the 

 material was mostly remains of insect larvae, entomostraca, shell frag- 

 ments, and algffi. 



November 27 was spent at North Bass Island and several dozen carp 

 were examined. These fish, all small ones, 80 to 40 cm. (12 to 16 

 inches) long, were brought in directly from the gill nets, set in from 

 10 to 25 feet of water, and for the most part on the reefs. Most of 

 the fish had some food in the alimentary canal, and in some cases the 

 stomach was well filled, showing that they had been feeding very 

 recently. Reference to stomachs No. 29 to No. 32 will show that the 

 food was of the same general character as had been found at Port 

 Clinton. Here, again, one stomach contained a single white-fish egg 

 (No. 31). 



The facts obtained lead me to quite a different conclusion from the 

 assumptions made by the fishermen. That carp do occur on the 

 spawning grounds of the white-fish is true, and, furthermore, they 

 seem to be moving about and feeding in spite of the lateness of the 

 season and the low temperature of the water. These are mostly small 

 fish, however, and the number of them on the reefs appears to be 

 comparatively small as well. The eggs of the white-fish, not being 

 adhesive to any great degree, probably become widely scattered, and 

 unless the carp were present in large numbers the relative number 

 of eggs dcstro3"ed would be small; and that such is the case seems to 

 be proved by the examinations of stomach contents made. That carp 

 capture the young white-fish is even more to be doubted, and certainly 

 no instance has been reported where such is known to have been the 

 case. My conclusion is, then, that while the carp may eat some white- 

 fish spawn, the amount so consumed is so small as to be practically 

 insignificant, especially in comparison with the host of other forms 

 which probably prey upon the eggs now as they have alwaj^s done in 

 the past. I suspect that by no means the least enemy to these eggs is 

 the common mud puppy {'Necturus 7nacidosus — called "lizard" by the 

 fishermen) which is often taken in numbers in the pound nets. And, 

 furthermore, the danger to the white-fish spawn has been largely over- 

 come in recent years by the operations of the Bureau of Fisheries, in 

 hatching the eggs in jars and turning loose the 3'oung fish in the spring. 

 It has generally been conceded to be due to this, and certainly in spite 

 of the increase of carp, that the white-fish have been on the increase 

 in Lake Erie in the last few years. The catch in 1901 was an espe- 

 cially good one, and was said by the fishermen to exceed any for many 

 years previous. 



