Fish culture never became a serious occupation among the Romans. It was a pastime, one of the many directions which their senseless luxury took rather than a carefully directed effort to stock ponds and rear fish for food, or as a means of nature study. The immense ponds were stocked with rare fish in preference to useful varieties. Next to the rare species those that could be tamed were in favor. A qualification of the above statements should be made probably, in favor of the Romans who lived during the early Republican period of whom Columella, a Roman writer, has the following to say in his book entitled De Re Rustica: “The descendants of Romulus, although they were country folk, took great pains in having upon their farms a sort of abundance of everything which the inhabitants of the city are wont to enjoy. To this end they did not rest contented with stocking with fish the ponds that had been made for this purpose, but in their foresight went to the extent of supplying the ponds formed by nature with the spawn of fish. By this means the lakes Velinus and Sabitinus, and likewise Vulsmensis and Ciminus have furnished in great abundance not only catfish and goldfish, but also all the other varieties of fish which flourish in fresh water.” Such were the practices of the Roman country folk in early times, but, strange as it may seem in view of the extravagance of which the fish pond became the object in later times, no measures were taken to secure the reproduction and free development of staple food fishes.