Many remarkable instances have been recorded demonstrating highly developed acuteness in the sense of hearing of fish. It is claimed by many that fish can be tamed and taught to come to the surface of the water to be fed, answering promptly to the sounds of the voice, a bell, or a whistle, and under conditions that make it impossible for them to see the person producing the sounds.

HABITS.

The black bass prefers clear, cool, running water; but he is a hardy creature and will thrive under a large variation of conditions. The large-mouthed and the small-mouthed black bass differ slightly in their inclinations; the large-mouthed species will thrive better than the small-mouthed in lakes or ponds with muddy bottoms, or in streams with a sluggish current.

Except in the Southern and Southwestern States black bass undoubtedly hibernate. They bury themselves in the mud, in the crevices of rocks, under masses of weeds or sunken logs, in the deepest water, and remain dormant until spring. Only rarely can one be caught by fishing for him through the ice, and this almost. always occurs immediately preceding the breaking-up of the ice in the spring or occasionally in very late winter.

A few years ago Mr. William A. Mynster contributed to "Forest and Stream" a very interesting account of his observations of the black bass, and it relates so many of the habits peculiar to them that I feel justified in reproducing it here:

"I had a dam constructed in my spring branch, immediately below my fish ponds, in such a manner as to form a small body of pure, clear water. In this I placed some seven or eight hundred native fish of different varieties, embracing the black bass, sheepsheads, buffaloes, and pickerel. From the banks of this body of clear water I was enabled to see every movement of my finny pets, and many moments of leisure have I spent in watching their habits. The black bass (Micropterus pallidus) would usually swim into the current, where he would sport about on the gravelly bottom, while the buffalo would retire into stiller water and browse in the grass and water-cress growing on the bottom.

"Thus I ascertained their habits of feeding, and was enabled to determine what growth they would make in a given time without being fed artificially. Hence, I seldom, if ever gave them any food. The buffalo (Bubalichthys bubalus) in a few weeks became attenuated, and began dying. This I attributed to their being in cold spring water with a current too rapid, and their not being able to procure sufficient food. The black bass, on the other hand, thrived amazingly well, and were making a most marvelous growth. This I attributed to the fact that they were in pure water of a uniform temperature. The bass, although found in all kinds of water, undoubtedly thrive best in clear, pure spring brooks with gravelly bottom. The size of these bass when I first put them in the place was from four to six inches in length, and in less than three weeks they had grown upwards of an inch.

"This, I must confess, notwithstanding I had implicit confidence in their making a rapid growth, astonished me much. I had always been a believer in heavy feeding, and felt satisfied that the amount of growth that would be derived in a certain time depended mainly upon the quantity of feed that had been consumed. This led me to speculate where these bass obtained their food, confined as they were in a very small body of water containing some eight hundred fish, and immediately below my pends containing some forty thousand salmon, young and older. For the purpose of ascertaining this, I made my bass frequent visits, and by remaining quietly secreted on the banks, soon discovered the source of their food supply.

"One day as I was thus occupied, in company with my eldest boy, he called my attention to the fact that a snake (Tropodonotus grahami) was leisurely swimming through their midst. At first I felt inclined to pursue the snake, fearing that he might in some manner injure, if not destroy, a large portion of my native stock. My fears were, however, speedily terminated by one of my larger bass making a rapid dart at the snake with open mouth, and nearly severing its head quite close to the body. The scene that then ensued beggared description. Never shall I forget it-such a floundering and splashing! The surface of the water for an instant seemed literally covered with perpendicular tails enveloped in

foam. So great was the commotion that we were compelled to retire to a greater distance to avoid being thoroughly drenched.

"After the disturbed waters had become somewhat calmed, we resumed our former position in order to make further observations, and found our large bass hero, with one end of the snake in its mouth, rapidly making away with it, and a smaller, but not less pretentious brother, at the other end, endeavoring with all his might and main to eat even with him. Thus these gamey lads continued for some time, swimming up and down the stream, like two boys running with a rope. The distance between them, however, rapidly diminished.

"This had continued for some time, when we saw emerging from under a log at the edge of the banks one of my pike (Esox lucius). At first he came slowly but steadily, when he made a rapid dart, with open mouth, at my smaller bass, and at a single gulp, placed himself outside of it! Then he became face to face. with our here. It was an awful moment of suspense for some time. Our finny gladiators remained motionless, eyeing each other, measuring the dimensions of each other's mouth, as it were. The crisis at length came. The bass, by force of digestion, had made way with his part of the snake rope, and making one mighty effort, stretching maxillary and dental to their utmost capacity, soon enveloped the pike to a point just below the operculum. At this point we departed, feeling perfectly satisfied that our hero would take care of himself.

"I presume it is unnecessary to say that I no longer entertain any doubts as to the ability of the bass to take care of himself, and that heavy feeding is indispensable to a rapid growth.

"The above may, perhaps, seem somewhat fishy to a great many, but when we consider the structure of the bass, our doubts will be, in a great measure, abated. The variety above-mentioned has a very large mouth-in fact, they seem all mouth, thus enabling them to envelop anything not exceeding their own circumference, with ample room for respiration through the gills. The oesophagus is very large (about the size of the stomach) and short. This enables them to take into the stomach all that may be embraced by the mouth."

The Beginning of Some State Fish Hatcheries.

AT LAKE WAWASEE.

The change made by the last Legislature in the law that compelled the Commissioner of Fisheries and Game to expend a portion of the fund collected by him for the purchase of quail or other live game with which to stock the State, and permitted the spending of it for the propagation of fish, gave us this year, for the first time, a modest sum that could lawfully be spent for the establishment of fish hatcheries, after providing for a number of game preserves that had been set apart, but had not yet been supplied with birds.

The task of seeking out the most favorable locations for these hatcheries has not been an easy one. While we should not spend a large amount of money on any of them in the beginning, each of them must be so located that there would be the possibility of improving and enlarging it as funds accrued. The first point to be considered was an adequate and unfailing water supply. Others were suitable grounds for the construction of ponds without too great expense, the possibility of flooding at flood times, transportation facilities and so forth.

Probably the best location found so far is at Lake Wawasee. That lake lies at the edge of a glacial moraine, and after the glaciers receded, when the waters were much higher than they now are, must have extended far south among the glacial hills. A party of gentlemen, at the head of which is Mr. Charles A. Sudlow, a few years ago, bought a large tract of land among these hills, and by building two or three dams, restored a portion of this ancient extension of Wawasee, and made a private lake of it of somewhat more than three hundred acres. And they named it Papakeechie, after the chief of the tribe of Indians, a part of whose reservation it formerly was.