DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFUES IN PONDFISH CULTURE. 



227 



gibbosus, and 15 per cent of the food of another (p. 187); 60, 75, 85, and 100 per cent, 

 respectively, of the food of four young yellow perch, P. flavescens (pp. 192, 193); 6 per 

 cent (with Chironomid larvae) of the food of six Manitou darters, Percina caprodes zebra 

 (p. 194) ; 19 per cent of the food of four young grass pike, Esox reticulatus; and 36.66 per 

 cent of the food of three preadults (p. 201). 



Bean (1912, p. 203), in speaking of fish food said: " Important trout foods are snails, 

 dragonflies, mayflies, and caddis flies." 



A. S. Pearse, of the University of Wisconsin, in a manuscript paper seen by the 

 present author verifies these observations and adds many other fish species which feed 

 upon odonate nymphs. 



Dr. R. A. Muttkowski has very kindly contributed some manuscript notes upon the 

 food of fish from the vicinity of Madison, Wis. The odonate nymphs have been selected 

 from these food data and arranged in the following table : 



Food op Fishes near Madison, Wis., Examined by Dr. R. A. Muttkowski. 



[Numerators represent number of fish in whose stomachs nymphs were fotmd ; denominators represent number of nymphs found.] 



Kind of fish. 





igma an- 

 latum. 



,gma ha- 



11 



tra verti- 

 alis. 



« • 



a 



0 0 



3 



6 

 a 



ila luc- 

 losa. 



ila, sp. jj 





rgia, 



nalla 



nalla 



nalla 



1 







CI 







Lbelh 





< 



W 



W 



W 









< 















I 























24 



55 

 2 











I 









Ameiurus melas: Black bullhead 







6 

 3 



















Lepisosteus osseus: Long-nosed gar 







6 



















Eupomotis gibbosus: Common sunfish 





I 



3 



















I^epomis pallidus: Eluegill 





3 



5 



5 



















Micropterus sahnoides: I,argemouth black bass 





5 



5 



















Perca flavescens: Yellow perch 



I 



3 



18 



29 



2 







_4 



I 

 2 







I 



2 



74 



202 





23 





1 1 



2 



4 





I 



Pomoxis annularis: Crappie 







I 



















Pomoxis sparoides: Calico bass 





I 



I 



9^ 





6 



















12 



30 





89 















Schilbeodes gyrinus: Mad Tom 







2 



















Umbra limi: Mud minnow 





3 













































Two facts stand out very clearly in this table. The first is that the nymphs of the 

 two species of Enallagma, which are common in the vicinity of Madison, form an important 

 item in the food of the local fish. Every species of fish except the mud minnow has eaten 

 of them in considerable numbers, and for the rock bass and calico bass they seem to 

 constitute the chief item of diet. In all, 24 species of fish were examined, and it is worthy 

 of note that 6 of the 12 which do not appear in this table are found in Forbes's table, 

 where they are simply recorded as eating damselfly nymphs, without any designation 

 of species. 



The number of individual perch examined was very much larger than that of any 

 other kind of fish, and the species of odonate nymphs found in their stomachs are corre- 



