304 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
bass each year M'ithout the iiitrodvictiou of any other food. Ajjart from any consid- 
eration of the value of these lish, they arc the cheapest boarders at the hatcljery. 
The Channel Catfish eat the innsh greedily. Itnriug the fall, winter, and early 
spring they were dormant, and did not come for their I'ood. Such as was offered them 
during this period sank to the bottom and remained unnoticed. At other times of 
the year they rose to the surface and ate the innsh ravenously, reminding oneof jiigs. 
They are, as is well known among anglers, v ery fond of liver, it being a favorite bait 
for them among the negro tishermen of the South. Very larely we mixed a small 
amount of liver with their mush*. 
The Carj) (f ii<l Us Allies . — The food ibr these fishes has received such excellent treat- 
ment at the hands of Mi'. Carl Nicklas that the reader is referred to the translation 
of his Pond Culture, to be found in the Eeportof the U. S. Commissioner of Pish and 
Fisheries for 1884. But 1 would state that in ponds not overstocked 1 have never 
found it necessary to employ any animal diet for this class of fishes, though it is not 
to be doubted that the lines of feeding laid down by Mr. Nicklas will produce the 
most satisfactory results in securing the best marketable weiglit in the shortest time. 
NATURAL FOOD. 
The artificial ]iropagation of natural food for fishes reared artihcially has received 
the serious consideration of European fish-culturists, and several of them claim to 
have reached the solution of the problem and to be now rearing natural food in any 
desired quantities at a not extravagant cost. Foremost among these was M. Lugrin, 
of France, a description of whose secret process may be found in the frequently 
quoted article publislied in the Bulletin of the U. S. Fish Commission for 1887. Tlie 
hope was held out last year, in the meeting of the American Fisheries Society, that 
the French Government contemiilated purchasing the secret of M. Lugrin and throwing 
it open to the public use. 
Mr. Thomas Andrews, of England, also has for some time past been engaged in 
rearing natural food, but, from my understanding of his letters, his process seems to 
consist in allowing the natural food, principally Oammarus and Limnaai, to multiply 
naturally in reserve ponds and transfer tlie surplus to the ponds containing lish. 
The method of Mr. C. G. Atkins, of the U. S. Fish Commission, can scarcely be 
called, in the strict sense of the term, artilicial proiiagatiou of natural food.! I take 
it that maggots are in no sense natural food for Salmonidm, and I think that the 
method, because of its extreme malodorousness, will never be acceptable to the 
attendant or the community in which the work is conducted. 
Sefior Ohazari, of Mexico, uses natural food in considerable quantities, which, by 
reason of peculiar environments and cheap labor, he is able to collect at the low cost 
of 2^- and 3 cents per pound. I understand that he neither breeds the insects after 
the style of M. Lugrin nor uses reserve ])onds after that of Mr. Andrews, but relies on 
neighboring swamps as a base of supply. The local technical name of the Mexican 
food is “ mosquitte,” and in answer to my inquiries Seuor Chazari wrote as follows: 
It is a kind of af|uatic insect, being produced in largo quantities in our lakes pertaining to this 
district, especially in tliat of Fercoco, and from wbicli considerable quantities .are collected every year, 
]nixed with larvie and other aquatic insects. It is utilized extensively as a food for singing birds. It 
is a species ofCoriza, the Corizafemorata. It is very rich in “azoid ” principles (as are almost all insects), 
and even more than others, and therefore is considered an excellent food for lish. 1 have preferred it, 
* U. S. Fish Commission Bulletin, 1883, p. 419; 1884, p. 321 ; and 1886, p. 137. 
t Bulletin of the U. S. Fish Commission, 1893, pp. 221 et seq. 
