Some Observations on Ohio Fishes. 1 1 9 



fresh waters, is found in but one stream in Ohio, so far as I know — 

 Castalia Springs Creek, a few miles south of Sandusky. In 

 1873-74, Mr. Hoyt, then the owner of the springs, hatched some 

 thousands of trout eggs and deposited the fry in these waters, 

 where they have multiplied and increased, the low temperature of 

 the water, even in summer, rendering this stream well adapted to 

 their welfare. The spring and stream are now owned by a wealthy 

 angling club. The brook-trout is too well known to be particularly 

 mentioned, but it is fast disappearing before the axe of the lumber- 

 man in the States to which it is native. 



Family CENTRARCHID.E. The Sunfishes. 



The Black Bass {Micropterns) is the most important member 

 of this family. The large-mouthed black bass (M. salnwides) is 

 common in Ross Lake, near Elmwood, some eight miles from this 

 city, and not rare in the streams emptying into Lake Erie and the 

 Ohio River. Ross Lake is fed by the Miami Canal, through which 

 the large-mouthed bass and other lake fishes have found their way 

 into this lake. 



The small-mouthed bass (M. dolomieit) is abundant in Lake Erie, 

 especially about the islands in the western part of the lake, and in 

 all of the streams tributary to the Ohio from the Little Miami to 

 Pittsburg; and judging from the great numbers of the young that 

 I took in my collecting seines, and threw back to grow, this best 

 of all game fishes will, like the poor, be with us always, if they 

 are properly protected during their breeding season, seining pro- 

 hibited, and the streams kept clear of the pernicious emanations 

 from the various factories, oil refineries and distilleries. 



It goes without saying that the black bass is my favorite game- 

 fish. It is now the game-fish of our country. After an ample 

 experience in the capture of every game-fish of American waters — 

 from the lordly salmon of Canada to the tarpon, or " silver king " of 

 Florida — from the striped bass of the Chesapeake to the masca- 

 longe of the Great Lakes — I consider the black bass (as I have 

 often said before), inch for inch, and pound for pound, the gamest 

 fish that swims. 



As a food-fish the black bass bears transportation well, and ranks 

 next to the whitefish among fresh water fishes, and usually sells 

 for a better price. 



It spawns in the streams of Southern Ohio in May, and in the 



