Contrary to the opinions of most fish culturists, the ova of the striped bass have been found to be entirely free from the gelatinous covering which always surrounds the eggs of the perch, pike, black bass, Oswego bass, etc., etc. It flows from the fish readily, is easily hatched, and the young fish quickly develop.

Fully half a million eggs have been found in females of fair size. Striped bass are more numerous than any other salt water fish of our coast, and yet they are daily growing scarcer. Their habits are little understood, and their times and places of spawning still uncertain. It has been supposed that they spawned at different seasons of the year, and while some investigators were positive that this act was accomplished in fresh-water, others were equally confident that it occurred at sea. The most experienced fishermen of the seacoast - men who have followed the business all their lives - have been consulted, but were far from agreeing in their views.

It was certain that a number of these fish were migratory, or at least semi-migratory in their character, visiting the fresh waters at certain seasons, but remaining in the new element for an unknown period. This is proved by their ascending the falls of the Potomac at certain months every year, and their appearing in other rivers at established periods. The supposition was natural that they made this change for the purposes of spawning, and yet it was equally clear that the vast majority of striped bass never left the ocean or the salt bays, coves and lagoons which are connected with it.

Striped bass are the most numerous of the salt water fish of our coast from Maine to Florida. They are with us, more or less, at all seasons of the year. They are the principal means of supplying our markets. They grow to a large size, and are extremely prolific. If they can be cultivated artificially, an immense benefit will be conferred on the community. The only doubt is whether a sufficient number of the spawning fish can be obtained in ripe condition.

Those that spawn in the fresh water ascend the rivers for the purpose in spring, and begin the operation about the month of May. The eggs are expressed without difficulty, and hatch in eight days in the ordinary shad hatching boxes. The fry have little umbilical sac, and may be turned loose immediately, and will take care of themselves. The eggs are about the size of those of the shad.

Striped bass have a peculiar aptitude for both fresh and salt water, and may be changed from one to the other without preparation, and without detriment. They will live and grow if retained in fresh water ponds, to which they may be transported as soon as they are caught in the salt inlets and creeks in which the young usually make their appearance. Whether they will spawn if kept wholly in small preserves, we do not know.

One of the most remarkable experiments in fish culture was made by the New York Commission in the years 1876 and 1877, on the Hudson river. Shad and striped bass were not only successfully crossed, but the young of the mixed breed were hatched in large numbers. The eggs of the shad were impregnated with the milt of the striped bass. Every care was taken to make the experiment conclusive. As male shad were being stripped at the same time, and it was possible that the sperms might be in the water around the boat where the nets were landed and the operations conducted, and consequently impregnation be effected by the milt of the shad itself in that way, the utmost precautions were used to obtain water a safe distance from the boat, and always up against the current. It was thus made certain that the impregnation was effected solely by the milt of the striped bass. The eggs were then deposited in the shad boxes as the bass eggs had been previously hatched, and a very fair percentage of them matured in the ordinary time. There was a marked difference in the appearance of the fry - a difference clearly observable to the practiced eye, but not capable of description on paper.

These results seem almost incredible, and open an entirely new field in fish culture.

If two such wholly dissimilar fish as the striped bass and shad can be crossed, it may be expected that all varieties which spawn at about the same time, and hatch under analogous circumstances, can be treated in the same way. New and remarkable species may even be originated, and as great changes effected as from the crossing of flowers and fruits. This operation was repeated in 1877, and fully ten thousand of this strange combination were hatched and turned free in the river. They must soon prove their capacity for existence, and more or less of them should be caught in 1879 or 1880, enough to call attention to them if they shall have successfully solved the problem of life, and combatted the dangers that encompass them. The adaptability of bass to unusual circumstances, their capacity of living in fresh or salt water, or changing from one to the other, and their independent habits of life, make a favorable result extremely probable. It will certainly be a "queer fish" that shall be compounded of half bass, half shad, and we look to its appearance with interest.