winter months, but their natural habitat is in the deeper water, both winter and summer, where the temperature of the water is nearly constant through the year. The cisco is confined to the deep part of the lake during the summer months, feeding principally upon Daphnia, Cyclops, and insect larvæ,

The cisco rises at times to prey upon insects that may have fallen into the water. It is not considered a game fish, although it has been known to take the minnow and rise to the fly cast in the deepest part of the lake.

On several occasions the cisco have been known to die in great numbers during August and September. A few years ago the shore of Long Lake was literally strewn with dead cisco of large size. This disaster all but exterminated the cisco in that lake. I have found apparently healthy fish in a dying condition at the surface of the water.

The cause of the death of so many cisco has so far been given little attention, but observation seems to indicate that the epidemics have been due to a lack of oxygen beneath the thermocline. Birge and Juday report in Wisconsin Survey, Bul. XXII, Inland Lakes, Dissolved Gases, that "It has been noted, for instance, that Leucichthysis sisco, which is found in Okauchee Lake and which seems to occupy the cooler water below the thermocline during most of the summer, die off in very large numbers in late August and early September when the cooler water just below the thermocline does not contain a very large amount of dissolved oxygen. The most serious epidemic that has been noted within the last few years occurred in late August and early September, 1909, when the colder water of this region contained the smallest amount of dissolved oxygen that has been found here in four years. In 1909 the epidemic was very serious, the shores in places being covered with large numbers of dead cisco.”

PROTECTION.

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The spawn of the cisco is destroyed by unfavorable weather conditions, by water animals, and by fishermen, so that the per cent. of eggs that hatch must be very small. The fact that the generations vary much in size indicates that a generation is not pro

duced each year on account of unfavorable weather conditions at the time of spawning. Some protection should be provided as the cisco is of economical importance to the State as a food fish, and is the only one of our fresh water fishes which will bear salting. If the eggs could be stripped from the cisco and artificially reared, there is little doubt but that our lakes could be abundantly supplied with one of our best food fishes.

The general idea that the cisco can be taken only by seine or spear during their spawning season is erroneous. I have taken them during all seasons of the year except when the lake is covered with ice. To spear and seine cisco from November 15th to December 15 is unwise, unless at the same time the spawn be taken and artificially reared, as is done with the salmon of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and the whitefish of the Great Lakes.

A Four Hours' Catch from Dallas Lake, Lagrange County, Indiana.

Our Black Bass.

BY PRESTON H. MILES.

The black bass is natural only to America, and is unknown in the Old World save for a few places where it has recently been introduced. Its original habitat extends over almost the whole United States; but it has been placed in those waters of the country that did not originally know the species, so that at the present time this fish is to be found not only in every State of the Union, but also in many other parts of America. Thanks are due the fish commissioners of the various States, the United States Fish Commissioner and other public-spirited men for their work of introducing it to new waters. For an interesting and instructive detailed account of this work one should read the Report of the United States Fish Commission for the years 1872-3. The following is an account found in the Report of perhaps the earliest attempt at transplanting:

"In 1850, twenty-seven live bass were brought by Mr. Samuel Tisdale, of East Wareham, Mass., from Saratoga Lake and put into Flax Lake, near his home. In the years 1851 and 1852, others were brought to the number of two hundred and reared in ponds in the vicinity. The matter was kept quiet and fishing discouraged for five years, when the fish were found to have increased very rapidly. Some twenty-five ponds were stocked in the same county after Mr. Tisdale had initiated the experiment. Afterward, black bass from Mr. Tisdale's ponds were supplied to a lake in New Hampshire in 1867, and to waters in Connecticut and Massachusetts. In 1866 the Cuttyhunk Club, of Massachusetts, introduced the black bass into a pond on its grounds. In the year 1869 the Commissioners of the State, together with private parties, stocked several ponds and the Concord River with black bass, and in the following year other waters were stocked."

LIFE HISTORY.

Fish must mate, and they are adjusted for this purpose. The male and female differ in size, in disposition, in coloration, and in their weapons of defence. Fish are like birds in that the colors of the male become greatly exaggerated during the breeding season. Science advances two theories to explain this: (1) The male fish takes on his brightest colors to attract the female the law of natural selection-; and (2) the male assumes ownership over a patch of breeding ground, and uses his colors to warn other fish away.

The majority of the fishes lay eggs; it is only a very limited few that give birth to living young. The size of the eggs differs greatly among the various fishes; but the size of the eggs is always inversely proportional to the number of eggs the fish lays. Some fish make no provision for the protection of their young, while others care for their young until they have grown quite large before they are left to shift for themselves. But as is the relation of size and number of young, so is it with care and number-the protection which a fish affords its young is inversely proportional to the number of them. As an instance of this fact, of the very few species that give birth to living young, the number is comparatively very small, and the period of protection is accordingly long.

The female black bass deposits her eggs on the bottom of the nest, usually in rows, where they become glued to the pebbles and stones after being fecundated by the male. The number of eggs yielded by the female is wonderfully large, the spawn usually weighing fully one-fourth as much as the parent fish. Unlike the female of mammals, the female of the black bass has practically fulfilled her portion of the duty of propagation with the yielding of her spawn. Not only must the eggs be fertilized by the male, but also must he hold himself over the nest and by constant motion of his fins keep the eggs free of sediment until they are hatched, or guard them against intruders. Often, however, the female is to be found assisting him in this. The period of incubation lasts from one to two weeks, depending on the temperature of the water. but usually from eight to ten days.