Part II

Fall. This fall is impracticable to fish, though fish had been known to sur- mount the lower one occasionally, but not often. The 128 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. entire height of the two falls is about seventy feet. The highest, which is on the Owenmore, near the village of Collooney, has but one fall ; but this one is higher than either of the falls which comprise the lower one and the Upper Ballisodare Fall, and is entirely impracticable. " The ladder applied to the Upper Ballisodare Fall was at first brought out into the lower water too far down the stream from the fall, so that the fish in running up missed it. It was therefore found necessary to turn it, so as to bring the embouchure of the ladder close to the foot of the A falls. few pairs of fish had always been in the habit of entering the river and running up to the lower falls, and the plan adopted to stock the river was that of catching the fish and placing them in the river above the falls, so that they might spawn in the river. After sundry failures, the ladders being completed, and several fish being put up above the falls, and some fecundated ova deposited in the river, a large quantity of salmon-fry was observed to be in the river. These, at the usual time, became smolts and disappeared. This was about April, 1857. On June 26th the first grilse was observed at the fall ; by July they were plentiful, and so continued till the end of the season. The river was not fished in 1857. " I had much more and interesting particulars from Mr. Cooper in reference to this fishery, but cannot find space for it here. The account was fully given in " The Field" in December, 1858, and from that paper I extract the follow- ing table, showing how completely the experiment sue- CULTURE OF THE SALMON. 129 ceeded. The table was kept by an agent whom Mr. Cooper appointed : " ' 1857. August 24. Saw several salmon in the hole under the fall of Collooney. " ' September 24. The river between Ballisodare and Collooney is now well stocked, salmon being visible in almost every deep hole, and a number being congregated between Collooney Bridge and the hole under the fall. A " ' October 3. flood being in the Owenmore, I shut the water off the Collooney ladder to see if there were any fish passing up, and found seven salmon and one white trout in the pond " ' October 13. Of these seven, five were males. Examined Collooney ladder, and re- ported to Mr. Leech that there were salmon in it. Twenty- seven salmon were found in the it, great majority of them being females. " ' October 15. Lowered the sluice of Collooney ladder again, but got no fish. " ' October 28. Again examined the ladder, and got three male fish. " ' October 30. Four male and two female fish taken out of ladder and put up. " ' November 3. Sixteen male and eight female. " ' November 4. There were ten fish in the ladder, which were not removed, as Mr. Leech was not present. " ' November 5. Nine fish, not removed. " ' November 6. " ' November 7. Seven ditto, ditto. Eleven ditto, ditto. I went to Balliso- I 130 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. dare on this day, and saw several large fish leaping at the upper ladder. We " ' November 9. put up from the ladder twenty- four male and fifteen female fish. " ' November 23. Lowered the sluice again ; twenty- A five male and twenty female fish found in the pond. few of these were large fish, say 14 Ibs. or 15 Ibs. weight. " ' November 30. The fish are now beginning to spawn in great numbers in the Owenbeg river. " ' December 3. Thirty-six male and forty-five female fish found in the ladder. " ' 1858. January 5. Saw a few spawning-beds in Owenmore. "' January 9. In river Arrow and tributaries found twenty-nine salmon redds. " ' February 14. Walked the Kilmorgan river (a tribu- tary to the Arrow), and counted twenty-one redds.' " In the early part of this year, 1858, we seldom fished. In the month of February we took five fish ; in March three ; in April two ; in May ten in j June thirty-nine. We did not, in fact, begin to fish regularly till the 1st July. During this month we took 868 salmon, and up to the 20th August (the close of our season) 530 more the year's take averaging very little more than 4 Ibs. each. Mr. Culbertson's notes on this year are : ' Spring-fish showing in February. One of 9 Ibs. taken in the net, was a fry marked by Brown in 1856. In March got another about the same weight. Only a few fish through this mouth. Fry coming down in April, and more plentifully CULTURE OF THE SALMON. 131 in May : but I do not think so many in the river as last year. On 13th May saw nearly one hundred jumps from six to eight o'clock in the evening; they were from 81bs. to 121bs. weight. On 9th June was first grilse at lower fall ; about the end of the month they were very plentiful. Among the fish taken by the nets on 6th July, seven were fry marked by me last year, and they weighed 5 Ibs. to 6 Ibs each.' " Since the end of the close-season, many reports have been sent me relative to the numbers running up. From my inspector's book I take the following : ' Aug. 28. At Ballisodare, numbers of salmon in every part of the river between bridge and lowest fall. Sept. 1. . Collooney ladder literally full of fish. They did not run in such numbers last year until November, being over two months earlier this year. Sept. 6. Plenty of fish immediately above Collooney Bridge. Sept. 25. Collooney ladder swarming, and plenty showing in every place between bridge and fall. October 3 to 6. Heavy floods. Collooney ladder resembles a steeplechase, as we see them clearing the steps in pairs, and some very good fish. Oct. 8 and 9. Plenty of fish still on the run. Oct. 16. I have been watching the salmon jumping and playing at Collooney fall and ladder. I have visited the ladder daily this week, and from the numbers in it, am convinced that they could be removed from top of ladder with the hand. Nov. 27. Great numbers of fish in Collooney ladder.' In addition to these notes of my inspector, one of my water-keepers reported having counted 267 salrn&n in one 132 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. hour ascending the Collooney laddea; and Mr. Culbertson has written to me to say that he reckoned 100 in less than half an hour making up the rapids at Ballisodare. On yesterday, Dec. 2, there were so many fish in the pond at Collooney, that Mr. Leech took up no less than six at once in a common landing-net. " EDWARD J. COOPER. " Markree Castle, December 3. " P.S. Since my letter was written, the Earl of Enniskillen has visited my fishery; and I extract the following from his notes, entered in inspector's book : " ' On the 9th (Dec.) I visited Collooney ladder and saw immense quantities of fish running up. Frequently saw four fish at the upper step jumping together. On the 10th again at Collooney. Not nearly so many fish moving this day; counted at upper step nineteen in five minutes. Turned off the water, and put up 256 fish. This day (llth) counted 102 fish jump at the upper step in five minutes. Turned off the water; the pond actually alive with fish, in general larger and fresher from the sea than those of yesterday. Put up 246 fish, and then stopped, as the fish were getting sick in the pond. I am confident that we did not take half the number out, and that we left from three to four hundred in the pond.' ' r Introduction of Salmon into the Doohulla. The following extracts and condensation of letters to Mr. Francis on the subject, show the origin and early progress of this enterprise. The subjoined is from Mr. Ffennel, inspector of fisheries. CULTURE OF THE SALMON. 133 " In relation to the Doohulla river, I should rather say the Doohulla waters, because there is nothing which can well be dignified by the name of river connected with the concern. There are several small loughs or lakes which now discharge through two artificial cuts, one connecting the upper lakes with the lower one, and the other connect- ing all with the sea, and more in the character of mere ditches than of rivers. The whole catchment area (as engineers call it) of these small lakes is very inconsidera- ble ; they always contained some white trout which ascended through a tortuous stream or brook, when heavy rains created occasionally sufficient water in its rugged bed ; these favorable opportunities however were few and very far between. This place was purchased some years ago by Mr. John Knight Boswell, of Monkstown, near Dublin. He requested me to assist him in such measures as might be adopted for the improvement of the fishery. " The main principle carried out, was that of connecting the waters of the several loughs ; cuts were made to effect this the old stream was dammed out, the water was run through an additional lake before unconnected with the others. The speculation was a complete success, though a valuable white trout fishery only was created when Mr. Boswell sold it, realizing a large profit for his outlay." The following, which relates to the same waters after coming into possession of Mr. Cooper, is from a letter of Mr. Ramsbottom : " It is four years this month since the first lot of ova were deposited, viz., 18,000. These, when hatched, were kept 12 134 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. in the nursery beds and ponds for about two years and three months as smolts, and then turned into the river per- fectly ready for sea. It was from the above lot of smolts we marked 700 in March, 1862, and which have during the season just passed returned as grilse, being now a little over three and a half years old.* I am also happy to in- form you that I have just received a note from my son to say that he has for the first time seen grilse on the spawn- ing-beds of the river at Doohulla. " That your readers may more clearly understand, I append a table of the dates : " 18,000 ova deposited in 1859. " Ova hatched February, 1860. " Fry kept in nursery ponds until May, 1862, being nursed for two years and three months ; but I would here remark that a few of the fry, and only a few, appeared to be ready for sea when about thirteen months old. " Turned out of nursery ponds ready for sea, May, 1862. " Returned as grilse (after being at sea from thirteen to fifteen months) in June, July, and August, 1863. " You will see that when the first grilse returned (in June), it must have been three years and four months old." It will be seen from the foregoing how small a stream can be made exceedingly productive if net-fishing is pro- * It will be seen by this, that it will sometimes require three years and a half from the time of hatching to produce a grilse. On the contrary, a smolt may go to sea when something over a year old, and return, a grilse, in two months ; making at least, two years and four months difference in the time of maturity. CULTURE OF THE SALMON. 135 hibited for a few years at its mouth, and the salmon protected on their spawning-grounds. There are no doubt many such along the coast of New England that could be stocked, and salmon cultivated with as much profit as at Doohulla. The project of stocking the rivers of Australia with salmon was commenced in 1864. After a long discussion as to the manner of sending out the ova, a hundred thousand salmon and three thousand trout eggs were packed in two hundred boxes; moss being used in packing, much as we do with the ova of trout in this country. The two hundred boxes were closely surrounded by thirty tons of ice in the hold of the ship Norfolk, which sailed on the 21st of January. The ship was seventy-seven days in making the passage, and arrived at Melbourne on the 15th of April. The greater number of the boxes were at once sent off to Tasmania, reaching Hobart Town on the 20th, where suitable arrangements had been made for hatching on the river Plenty. On opening the boxes it was found that more than two-thirds of the ova had perished. This occurred where they were tightly packed and the moss was deadened and had assumed a brownish tint. In the boxes where the moss was green and somewhat loose, they were still alive. The temperature of the water in which they were hatched varied from 46 to 49, some of the ice left from the Norfolk being used to keep it below the latter point on warm days. Mr. Ranisbottorn, son of the noted fish culturist, had charge of the hatching; but with all his care only 136 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. three thousand fry were produced from the thirty thousand eggs that arrived in sound condition. These were healthy, but did not grow as fast as some of the young trout. While the friends of the enterprise were Congratulating themselves thaf at any rate they had three thousand young salmon, there was a mysterious disappearance of the greater part of them. Some, it was thought, found their way into the river ; only about five hundred remained in the pond, and these also after a while were allowed to escape to the river. To this " small point," as a Yankee would say, had this much-talked-of introduction of salmon into Australia been " whittled down." The enterprise, however, was commend- able in those who attempted it, and we say all honor to its patrons. There are reports of grilse having returned, whether from this small migration, or from the hatching of subsequent importations of ova, I have not been able to learn definitely. But the five hundred even, if protected, will in due time make salmon abundant. The following, copied from the Hobart Town Mercury, I have clipped from the report of the Vermont Fish Commissioners : " The first batch of salmon hare been sent out to sea, and we shall have a second batch to let loose at the end of the year. When Mr. Ramsbottom, in charge of the salmon ponds at the Plenty, turned the first batch into the Derwent at the close of 1865, he fixed upon February, 1866, as the date of their return from the sea, and they have been true to their time. They began to return in the CULTURE OF THE SALMON. 137 month of February, and now seem to be returning in con- siderable numbers. " After enumerating the instances where salmon had been seen, the writer concludes by saying : " All doubts of the return of the first batch of salmon We in greater or lesser numbers are therefore at an end. cannot say that the Derwent swarms with them. But enough has been said to show that they have returned in considerable numbers." The following statistical information is from the report of the Vermont Commissioners of Fisheries : Mr. Ashworth has communicated to the International Congress to Promote the Cultivation of Fisheries the fol- lowing table of the number of salmon taken in fisheries of the Gralway : In 1853 the number taken was " 1854 " " " " 1855 " " " " 1856 " " " 1857 " " " " " 1858 " " " " " 1859 " " " " 1,603 3,158 5,540 5,371 4,857 9,639 9,249 u 18 60 " " " 1861 " " " 1862 " " 1863 " " " 1864 " " 3,177 " " 11,051 " " 15,431 " " 17,995 " 20,512 During the past two years the number has been in- creased, but we are not able to give the exact figures. 12* 138 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE Ballisodare. During the eleventh year from the time these fishways were built, the number of salmon taken in these waters was over ten thousand. Stormontfield. Mr. Ashworth also submitted tables giving the yearly rental of the fisheries on the Tay river, Scotland, from the year 1828 to 1864. " In 1828 the annual rental was 14,574 10s. In this year an act was passed which made net-fishing legal up to the 14th of September^ instead of the 26th of August. The annual rental gradually dropped off from year to year, till 1852, when it was only 7973 5s. The public mind then became awakened, and the law was repealed, and all fishing ceased on the 26th of August as before. There was great opposition to the repeal of this law. The fishermen insisted that it was an unjust abridgment of their rights. They could not perceive the necessity of protecting the breeding salmon that would be likely to pass up during this interval of nineteen days. They insisted that the more they were permitted to fish the more fish they would catch. In addition to this wholesome law, an establishment was com- menced at Stormontfield, for breeding salmon artificially. The annual rental steadily increased under this new system as follows : In 1853 it was 8,715 " 1854 " " 9,269 " 1855 " 9,977 " 1858 " " 11,487 " 1859 " " 12,884 17s. 6s. 13s. 2s. 14s. 1860 13,827 10s. CULTURE OF THE SALMON. 139 In 1861 it was 14,109 15s. " 1862 " " 14,080 12s. " 1863 il " 14,257 16s. " 1864 " " 15,000 OOs. " These official documents, the concurrent testimony of all whom we heard speak upon the subject, and the great abun- dance of salmon we saw in the market of England, convince us that good results have followed the efforts to restock the streams of Great Britain. It may be proper to remark in this connection, that we estimated the amount of salmon for sale in the London markets to be more than double all other fresh-water fish on sale. The price has been affected by the increase of supply. They were selling in July last at one shilling (twenty-four cents) per pound. Six years ago salmon were sold in London at over a dollar per pound." From B. J. Lane, one of the special commissioners for Irish fisheries, we obtained their reports for a series of years. In them there is evidence of steady progress. In the report of 1865 they commence by saying: We " have great satisfaction in being able to report the steady and progressive improvement of the fisheries com- mitted to our charge. That improvement is, however, more real than apparent. Its proofs are found in the shoals of smolts that descended to the sea last spring, in the multitudes of fry that swarmed in the rivers during the summer, and in the unprecedented number of breeding fish that have so lately thronged the spawning-beds. Its effects appear in the increase of the number of men living 140 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. on the fisheries, and of the funds collected for the purpose of preservation. In no previous year, as far back as living evidence will take us, have the rivers of Ireland been so well stocked with salmon, young and old." That their anticipations for a continued increase were well founded, is evident from tables submitted in the report for last year. From them it appears that the whole amount of salmon shipped over the seven railroads in Ireland in 1865, was 790 tons, 14 cwt., and 3 qrs. In 1866 there were shipped over the same roads, 1092 tons, 10 cwt., and 2 qrs. CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 141 CHAPTER VI. CULTURE OF THE SHAD. The Shad. Its instincts, and analogies to the salmon. Migrations. Former abundance. Incubation of its ova. Its growth. Its introduction into rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, by Dr. Daniell. Hatching its spawn at Holyoke. Ascent by fishways over dam of Susquehanna Canal Company. Report of Col. James Worrall. The Alewife. AN account of the specific characteristics of this fish is unnecessary here, and would scarcely interest the general reader; we will, therefore, allude only to its instincts and habits, bearing on the subject-matter of this chapter. The shad belongs to the great family of herrings (Clupeidsd), so useful, and it might be said, almost indispensable to man. Although there are two varieties which visit our rivers, i. e., the white shad, and that with a row of spots on its sides, they are known as the same species Alosa, prsestabilis, and, doubtless, occupy the same spawninggrounds, at the same time, and breed promiscuously the one with the other. Its geographical range extends all along our Atlantic coast; and through the laudable efforts of Dr. W. C. Daniell, has been introduced into the Gulf of Mexico, by stocking the Alabama river by means of artificial propagation. This gentleman based his hopes of accomplishing this enterprise, on his knowledge of the unerring instinct of this and other anadromous fishes, returning to their native rivers to reproduce their species. 142 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. The Glupeidse show many analogies to the salmon family, not possessing, however, the adipose dorsal fin. The most noble species of each the shad and the salmon, resemble each other in their migratory habits, and both attain that rapid growth and excellent flavor, for which they are dis- tinguished on similar feeding-grounds, and likely, to a great extent, on the same food ; although the locality of these feeding-grounds, where they do not overlap, may occupy different parallels of latitude. There can be no question that soft-shelled Crustacea, the young of molluscs, small fish, and the lower orders of marine life, are consumed in large quantities by each. It is generally believed now, that the shad, as well as the salmon, does not wander far at sea from the mouth of its native river ; and in seeking it may coast along for some distance from the north or south, and thus give the impression that the great shoal may come from either point. At the north, the old theory was, and still is with many, that shad come from the south, while Dr. Daniell alludes to the supposition on the coast of Georgia (though he doubted it), that they come from the north. Notwithstanding the analogies of the shad and salmon just mentioned, it is surprising that the former retains its fleshiness and delicate juices quite up to the time of spawn- ing, while the latter continues to fall off from the day it enters fresh water. It has even been insisted on by many, that the longer a shad has been in fresh water before spawning, the better its condition ; as many of those taken just before the season closes, and high up the rivers, are CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 143 finer than the early run. This is likely erroneous, as the late run proceed at once to their spawning-grounds, not lingering as the great body do, but travelling hundreds of miles in a few days. Fresh run shad have been taken at the head of tide on the Susquehanna, with small salt-water fishes in their stomachs so perfect that their species could be identified. I mention this fact as an evidence of the rapidity with which shad sometimes travel. After they enter fresh water, it is generally believed that they do not feed, as they are invariably found with empty stomachs. It is true that a shad will rise at an artificial fly occasionally, or take a minnow, as I know from experience, but on opening them, these, as well as other anadromous fishes, are found without food. Amongst these I instance the herring, the alewife, the salmon, and Canadian sea trout. It is reasonable to suppose that shad are omnivorous, and that some of the algae which are gelatinous and highly nutritive, contribute to their rapid growth. Shad, at one time, entered every river on our coast which furnished the requisite spawning-beds, and ascended until some barrier opposed their course; every tributary was crowded with them. Civilization, and its attendant enterprise, prosecuted without provision for the passage of the fish to and from their spawning-grounds, have driven them entirely from some rivers, and lessened their numbers so materially in others, that shad are now considered rather a luxury, than one of the chief staples of life, in their season. In view of this alarming decrease, many of the States have appointed Commissioners of Fisheries, and are constructing 144 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. fishways over impassable dams. The New England States, by concerted legislation, have a joint commission, which gives us hope of a speedy restoration of shad and salmon to rivers from which they have been expelled. In the report of the Commissioners of Fisheries for the State of Vermont (October 11, 1866), it is said of shad, that they " select their spawning-grounds in bodies of water deeper and warmer than those occupied by salmon. The deep eddies below dams and waterfalls are generally selected by them. The eddy below Bellow* Falls was formerly a favorite spawning-ground for shad. The one below Holyoke dam in Massachusetts, is now occupied for that purpose, and thousands of shad are now annually caught at that place." This was also the case below Fairmount dam long after the Schuylkill was obstructed there, and but for the city gas-works, it would still have been a spawning-ground. Even now, a few shad continue to A spawn there. few years since, when returning from the dam where I had been fishing for white perch, two or three young shad (likely pursued by rockfish) leaped into my boat. This occurred in the latter part of May, and the fry were then between three and four inches in length. The remarks just quoted, as well as my observations, are corroborated by the experiments in artificial propagation at Holyoke last summer, and prove that shad instinctively deposit their spawn where it is kept suspended by the action of the water, if such a place is accessible. The short term of incubation (60 or 70 hours), and the fact of this fish being so prolific, are palpable arguments in CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 145 favor of its artificial propagation. By such means they can be immediately introduced into upper waters and tribu- taries of our rivers, if fishways are provided for their passage up and down. In eddies where sun-fish, perch, chub, roach, and other small fish congregate (being led thither, no doubt, by an instinctive knowledge of the food they are to find), the suspended and moving ova of shad must offer easily attained morsels, and it is not likely that any large proportion escape the ravenous devourers, or that one out of five of the helpless fry live to migrate to sea. All Philadelphia fishermen know how tempting a bait shad roe is to any fish, from the splendid rockfish down to the grovelling catfish. That it would pay to keep the fry for a short time in ponds of river water, is problematical, but well worth the experiment. The Massachusetts Commissioners of Fisheries, in their last report, comparing the statistics of Mr. T. D. Stoddart, as given in the " Harvest of the Seas," with other autho- rities, estimate that of the eggs of salmon which are not devoured, one-third become parrs, that two-thirds of the parrs become smolts, that one-twentieth of the smolts be- come grilse, and that one-tenth of the grilse become salmon. Thus showing that only one out of fifteen hundred eggs produces a full-grown salmon if deposited naturally, and the ova, fry, and grilse subjected to the usual chances. Or, that the produce of twenty thousand ova at the end of the third year is only seventy grilse, seven full-grown salmon, fifty thousand new parrs, and two hundred thou- sand eggs. The twenty thousand eggs thus producing 13 K 146 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. only seventy-seven fish fit for the table in three years. To show the advantages to be derived from the artificial pro- pagation of shad, the report alluded to continues : " By the shad, thanks to the admirable experiments of Green, we may illustrate the results of natural and artifi- We cial propagation side by side. assume that the male is fecund at one year, that the female carries spawn at two years, and lays from 10,000 to 12,000 eggs to each pound of her weight, and that males and females are in equal numbers. Considering what is known of the hatching of the eggs, by the natural process, and assuming that the young are destroyed in the same proportion as those of the salmon, the following fractions may be deduced : I of all eggs laid, get impregnated and escape being eaten by other fishes. ^ of these hatch. ^ of those hatched grow to one year. I of the yearlings grow to two years. of the two-year-olds grow to three years. " It would hence appear, that of 40.000 eggs of shad laid in the natural way, only one arrives at the age of three years. Now 'suppose two pairs of adult shad should come to a river each year, for three successive years, and there breed ; what would they and their descendants amount to at the end of that time ? The following table, calculated from the data foregoing, will answer this question. CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 147 Natural Breeding. Beginning oT First Tear. Beginning oT Second 148 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. Artificial Breeding. Beginning of First Tear. CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 149 smolt returns the following summer a grilse of from three to five pounds, why may not a shad attain a weight of two and a half or three pounds in the same time ? In a report of the Fish Commissioners of one of the New England States it is said that a few male shad nine or ten inches in length are sometimes taken in the Connec- ticut river j and it is assumed that these have spent one winter at sea. On this, which is a mere supposition, the theory has been started that the females and most of the males remain at sea two years. May not these males have remained in the rivjer all winter, the milt developing in the We mean time as it does in the male parr of the salmon ? know how much shorter time is occupied in the hatching of the spawn, and the more rapid growth of the fry of the shad. In three or four months a young shad will grow to a size which a sinolt only attains in fifteen or it may be in twenty-seven months. With this wonderful precocity of egg and fry, I cannot see why its growth at sea should not be as much as two or three pounds by the next spring or summer. If a few thousand shad fry could be confined to a limited space by leading off a side stream from one of our rivers, and marked, after they had grown to five or six inches, by cutting off the hinder part of the dorsal fin, and then turned loose, it is quite likely that some of them might be taken in the river near the place of their nativity the following summer, and the problem be solved. The following, from the proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, communicated through the Smithsonian Institute, shows how the pioneer movement in 13* 150 AMERICAN FISH CULTUKE. introducing shad into the rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico was made : " On the Introduction of the American Shad into the Alabama River. By W. C. Daniell, M. D. of Savannah, My Ga. success in establishing the white shad in the Alabama river being now complete, I propose to give you a detailed statement of the matter. " Having long doubted the generally-received theory of the annual migration south from the northern seas, of the white shad, and of the consequent annual migration thither of the young fry hatched from the eggs deposited by their parents in our fresh-water streams, I made inquiry of our fishermen, and learned that minute but distinctive differ- ences were readily detected between the white shad taken in the Savannah river and those taken in the Ogeechee river, eighteen miles south of the Savannah river. Fully satis- fied of this fact, I readily concluded that the young shad that descend to the sea never go so far from the mouth of the river descended as to lose their connection with it, and that they ascend in the spring the same river which they had descended as young fish the previous summer. Then the feeding-ground, so to speak, of the shad is in or near the mouth of the river. If the young shad does attain its growth at the mouth of the Savannah and of the Ogeechee rivers, may there not be equally good feeding-grounds at the mouths of the Alabama and other fivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico? To solve this question, I, with the aid of my friend, Mark A. Cooper, Esq., whose residence on the Etowah river, in Barton county, supplied an eligible CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 151 locality for the experiment, in the early summer of 1848 had placed in a small tributary of the Etowah river the fecundated eggs of the white shad, which I had myself carefully prepared at my plantation on the Savannah river, ten miles above this city, from living parents. These eggs, so deposited by Major Cooper, were daily visited by him until they had all hatched. I sent another supply of fecundated eggs to Daniel Pratt, Esq., at Prattsville, near Montgomery, Ala., in 1853 or 1854, as he writes me, which he deposited in a small creek. Inasmuch as he left home soon after, and was absent ' some weeks,' he can only report that during that absence heavy rains raised the waters in the creek, and washed away the ' pen' in which he had placed the white-shad eggs supplied by me. Nothing can therefore be safely affirmed of the success of this second deposit, nor is it important, as in 1851 or 1852, the white shad had already been taken in the fish-traps at the foot of the Falls of the Alabama, at Wetumpka, and of the Black Warrior, near Tuscaloosa, though unknown to me at the time of supplying Mr. Pratt with the fecundated eggs. " Through the kindness of a friend at Montgomery, Ala., a shad taken from the Alabama river was sent to Professor Holbrook, of Charleston, S. C., and he wrote me that he ' felt certain' that the fish received and examined by him was identical with the white shad of our Atlantic rivers. I have a letter from Charles T. Pollard, Esq., of Montgomery, Ala., of 6th inst., in which, speaking of the white shad in the Alabama river, he says : ' They have gradually increased in quantity since they first appeared, and hate 152 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. year by year increased in size, until, to use the words of a native of South Carolina, who lived many years near Sistera Ferry, on the Savannah river, they are now equal to the best Savannah river shad.' " The white shad have chiefly been taken in the fishtraps at the foot of the fall at Wetumpka and near Tuscaloosa. One, I am informed, has been taken from a trap at the head of the Coosa river, near Rome, in this state, and only some sixty rnile-s below the locality in which the eggs were deposited by Major Cooper, in a tributary of the Etowah river. I also learn that some few have been taken with a dip-net near Selma. " I think that we may safely conclude that the white shad may be as successfully established in the Mississippi river as it has been in the Alabama. Since feeding-grounds for that delicious fish exist at the mouth of one river flow- ing into the Grulf of Mexico, may they not exist at the mouths of other or all the rivers discharging into that sea ? Time must answer that question. ''Savannah, April 19th, 1866." It is to be regretted that some memoranda concerning the incubation were not given in this communication. It would have been a matter of much interest to compare observations of this kind with those of Mr. Lyman, of the Massachusetts Fish Commission, who says, <l Green was not able to hatch more than 2 per cent, of the ova deposited on the natural river-bed." The following account of the hatching of shad-spawn at Holyoke is from the admirable report of the commission CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 153 just named. All the facts connected with the incubation are so interesting, and at the same time so new, that I quote Mr. Lyman's observations almost entire : " Artificial Breeding of Shad. Early in last summer, Seth Green offered to come, at his own expense, and try to hatch the eggs of the shad at Holyoke, provided the New England Commissioners would furnish the necessary ap- paratus. " Green began his experiments the first week in July. He put up some hatching-troughs, like those used for trout, in a brook which emptied into the river. Having taken the ripe fish with a sweep-seine, he removed and impregnated the ova in the way already described for trout. These, to the number of some millions, he spread in boxes ; but, to his great mortification, every one of them spoiled. Nothing daunted, he examined the temperature of the brook, and found, not only that it was 13 below that of the river (62 to 75), but that it varied 12 from night to day. This gave the clue to success. Taking a rough box, he knocked the bottom and part of the ends out, and replaced them by a wire gauze. In this box the eggs were laid, and it was anchored near shore, exposed to a gentle current that passed freely through the gauze, while eels or fish were kept off. To his great joy, the minute embryos were hatched at the end of sixty hours, and swam about the box, like the larvae of mosquitoes in a cask of stagnant water. Still, though the condition of success was found, the contrivance was still imperfect; for the eggs were drifted by the current into the lower end of the box, 154 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. Fios. 1, 2, 7. Green's patent hatching box seen from the side, end ami bottom. Scale, l-20th. a. side floats 3.4" long ; 2" by 3" square, set with screws, b, bottom cross bar, bevelled, to throw the current upward, c, wire-net bottom 14 wires to an inch, d, trap in hind end for escape of young fish, covered by wire-net, S to an inch, and with a covering slide, e, anchoring cord. /, water-line. G, spawn. and heaped up, whereby many were spoiled for lack of fresh water and motion. The best that this box would do, was 90 per cent., while often it would hatch only 70 or 80 per cent. " The spawn-box he at last hit on is as simple as ingenious. It is merely a box with a wire-gauze bottom, and steadied in the water by two float-bars, screwed to its sides. These float-bars are attached, not parallel to the top line of the box, but at an angle to it, which makes the box float with one end tilted up, and the current striking the gauze bottom at an angle, is deflected upwards, and makes CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 155 such a boiling within as keeps the light shad eggs constantly free and buoyed up. The result was a triumph. Out of 10,000 ova placed in this contrivance, all but seven hatched. In spite of these delays, and of the imperfect means at hand for taking the fish, Green succeeded in hatching and setting free in the river many millions of these tiny fry. "As no way is now known of keeping shad in ponds or pools, they must be watched at their breeding-grounds, and when the spawn begins to flow freely from them, operations may commence. The fishing must take place by night, because (near Hadley Falls, at any rate) no ripe females are captured by day j those taken are all spent, or not yet ready to lay. This may be because they are in the deep holes, spawning, or because they are above, in the quick water. The seine must not be hauled quite ashore, but the bight of it must remain in the shallow water, that the fish may be kept alive. Thence they are taken out, and the spawn impregnated in a tub, or a large pan of water. Many scales will fall in the water, and must be carefully picked out, before the ova are distributed in the floating boxes, wherein they may lie about one-fourth of an inch deep. The boxes must be lashed end to end, in lines of convenient length, and it is well to surround them with a log boom, to keep off rubbish brought down by the stream. They should be placed conveniently near the shore, in a gentle current, but not so near as to risk being left dry by a fall of the river. They will now appear as if they had nothing in them, for the eggs are almost as 156 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. transparent as the water itself; but if they turn milky, and look like half-boiled sago, they are spoiled. " The contents are not, however, to be thrown away, without taking up some in the hand, when it will likely appear that but a small part are addled, while the rest re- main transparent. With further progress the embryo may, with a weak glass, be easily seen moving in the egg, which then is not so clear, and at the end of sixty hours (with sunshine and water at 75), the box will be found alive with tiny fry, almost transparent, except the eyes, swim- ming freely, with their heads up stream. In confinement they cannot be kept, because the yolk-sac does not suffice for their support for more than one or two days. But care must be taken to liberate them in a safe plaece. Green observed that, on setting them free among the shallows near shore, the dace (Argyreus) and other little fishes rushed to the spot, and commenced jumping at them. In the stomach of a dace, he found fourteen shad fry. Then, by a series of most ingenious experiments, he discovered that the fry, so far from frequenting the shallows, like many minnows, made directly for the main current, in mid- How river. different this from the young trouts that lie almost helpless for forty-five days, and then are fain to hide behind stones and roots ! Whereas, these minute, trans- parent, gelatinous things push boldly for the deep, swift current, where they are too insignificant to be attacked by the great fishes. Will the physicists tell us what ' corre- lation and conservation of force' produces this, or will the Darwinians set forth how, some millions of years gone, a particular shad fry, finding by accident that he did not get CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 157 eaten in deep water, transmitted a deep-water instinct to his children, who thereby flourished, while the shoal-water fry got in due time exterminated ? " So the fry must be let go in the proper way by towing the boxes into mid stream, or by liberating them during the night, when their enemies do not feed. In either case, the trap-slide must be raised, when they will be carried gradually through the coarse netting by the current. This operation must be performed as soon as all the ova are hatched out. There ends the nursery care ; for we know no method of keeping the young till they have gained size and strength. What we may hope to avoid is, the enormous loss which the eggs themselves suffer, when deposited by the natural method.* " The ovaries of a full-grown shad weigh at the spawn- ing season about thirteen ounces, without the membranes. With a common lens, three sizes of ova are at once distin- ^ y^ guished. The first have a diameter of T to of an inch. These are transparent and ready to be laid; the ^ second, T to T Q of an inch; the third, T | 5 of an inch. These two smaller sizes are opaque ; they are still found after the fish has spawned, and are the crops ready to mature the next year and the year after. This state of the * With the utmost care to secure every favorable surrounding, Green was never able to hatch more than two per cent, on the natural river-bed. Only those eggs hatched that chanced to catch in an angle of the gravel, where they had the current all about them. This dpes not take into the account those that are not impregnated, or are devoured, or covered by mud, &c., &c. 14 158 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. ovary has its parallel in the turtle, and possibly in all of the vertebrata. " It is scarcely necessary to add that the microscope shows other and smaller ovarian eggs. An ovary of the size above mentioned contains about 70,000 ova, ready to be laid. Their diameter increases, as soon as they are put J^ in water and impregnated, from T $ 5 to of an inch. This is by the endosmosis of water between the yolk and the shell membrane.* Of the embryonic development, we have, as yet, only an imperfect outline to present. Forty- one hours after impregnation, the condition of the embryo is, on the whole, in advance of that of coregonus on the thirty-third day. The under surface, from the nose to the beginning of the ventral, is in close contact with the yolk, which is composed of a great number of rounded divisions, such as are seen in the complete segmentation of that body, while its surface is flecked with pigment stars, of which a less number may be distinguished on the forward part of the trunk. That part of the embryo which swings free makes a spiral half turn, so that the dorsal fin is turned toward, instead of from, the yolk-sac. The head, which is pointed in front, and flattened, bears no resem- blace to that of the grown animal, and it would be, perhaps, fanciful to compare it even to such forms as Petromyzon A (Lamprey eel.) large portion of it is occupied by the * The same takes place in a less degree in the egg of Coregonus (white fish.) (Carl Vogt, loc. cit. p. 27, PI. I. fig. 9.) Accustomed only to eggs of trout, Green was much astonished to behold the mass of ova swell to near twice its first bulk. CULTURE OP THE SHAD. 159 eye, which fills proportionately at least four times more space than in the adult. The choroid coat, not yet closed below, partly encircles the crystalline lens, above which may be distinguished a clear space, which is a portion of the vitreous humor. The form of the brain may already be distinguished, especially when fore-shortened from the front. It is probable that the pectoral fin already exists, but, from the extreme transparency of the tissues, its out- line could not be caught. From the well-marked nuchal bow, the flattened body tapers gradually to a fine point, and is bordered, above and below, by an embryonic dorsal and ventral which spread into a spatula-like caudal fin, and it should be observed, that neither in this stage nor in the newly-hatched, does there exist any unevenness of the margins of these fins, that should indicate their approach- ing separation ; whereas, the newly-hatched salmon already shows very distinct dorsal, adipose, caudal, anal, and ven- tral fins ; and the little Coregonus, though less advanced in this respect, shows plainly the boundaries of these organs. Near the base of the caudal is now to be seen the end of the alimentary canal, passing at an angle across the breadth of the fin. The heart may be observed beating, and the embryo itself moves itself round and round within its prison, by a series of convulsive jerks. This motion is called by the breeders, 'life in the egg.'* * In this stage Green succeeded in keeping eggs alive in damp moss for six days, in a low temperature. But they are very hard to transport long distances, and cannot be hatched in cold water. 160 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. "The specific gravity of the eggs at all stages is very small barely enough to sink them in still water a great contrast to those of the trout, which go down almost like shot. " The newly-hatched young is 37 TB of an inch long. It swims actively by a continuous and rapid vibration of the body, and keeps its head to the current, perhaps to get the food that is carried past.* The yolk-sac, whose longer diameter, already in the egg, was parallel with the body, now appears still more ovoid in form. The pectoral fin is easily seen, and the finger-like canals in it indicate that its rays are forming. The embryonic, dorsal, caudal, and ventral fins are continuous one with another, and extend round the whole body, back of the yolk-sac. In the caudal a few faint, radiating fibres indicate the formation of rays. The choroid has completed its circle, and the eye has nearly the outward look of that in the adult. Along the course of the alimentary canal, quite to the anal opening, and over the yolk-sac, the pigment stars are more numerous A and defined. little indentation indicates the mouth, which lies under the eye, and opens as a curved slit. The general mass of the brain is easily made out. Along the centre of the body, a more translucent stripe indicates the dorsal cord, above which the range of muscular bundles begins to be distinct. * The current carries the fry gradually seaward. Hence it is, that since the erection of the Holyoke dam, young shad are no more seen there ; because, by the time they are large enough to be noticed, they have all drifted lower down the river. CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 161 " Within eighty-two hours after hatching, great development has taken place. The tail, though not forked, has taken on its triangular form, and is made up of fine, radiating fibres. The embryonic dorsal and ventral are reduced in breadth, whereby the anal opening is brought close to the body, the base muscles of the true dorsal may also be seen as it begins to form. Along the body the transverse muscles show themselves distinctly both above and below the lateral line. The pectoral fins have now their fibres complete, and resemble two little flat brushes. The mouth is pushing forward towards its normal place. It seems to have, in the under lip, a notch, perhaps the point of future union of the inaxillaries. The yolk-sac no longer plays an important part, and is reduced to very small dimensions. But the most striking change is the development of gills, four on a side, and each in its gill-pouch. The gills themselves can be distinguished, like little bows, along which run their veins and arteries. These, together with the size and position of the eyes, give the under surface of the head rather the look of that of a skate embryo than of a shad. " Such is a hasty sketch of three periods of embryonic life in this Alosa. Of the young, at three months, outlines have already been given.* It should be added, that their ,-rf ' jaws are, at this age, armed with fine, sharp, slightly curved teeth, nearly continuous along the upper maxillary and intermaxillary pieces, with a few at the point of the * See plate at the commencement of this chapter. L 162 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. lower maxillaries. None, apparently, on the vomer. These are necessary for the capture of the water beetles that then constitute a part of their food. The jaws of the adult are, as is well known, smooth. " Of the further growth of the shad, we cannot as yet speak with certainty, although there are pretty good grounds for an opinion. Mr. Frederic Russell, late Com- missioner from Connecticut, first called attention to some small Alosse,, about nine inches long, called by the fisher- men, ' chicken shad/ or ' Connecticut river alewives.' He was led to consider them partly grown fishes, from the fact that they all were males. Of many hundreds examined, only one female could be found, and there the ova were not developed. The fish taken for artificial breeding at Holy- oke were then compared, and it was found that they were of three, if not of four distinct sets or sizes. The smallest were the ' chicken shad,' and were all males ; the next were but half the size of the largest, and were males and females ; so also were the largest of all. Hence we may at least guess, that the young of the autumn go down, as min- nows of four inches, to the sea. The next spring the males are fecund (so too in the salmon parr), and seek the fresh water, urged by the sexual instinct, and are the chicken shad or yearlings. Not so the females, which, not yet sexually developed, remain in the salt water, or in the estuaries. When two years old both sexes are fecund and seek the river together. These are the half-grown or two- year-olds. The third season they are large fish, and may be termed three-year-olds. But these three-year-olds have, CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 163 in the ovary, at least two crops of eggs ready, though undeveloped, for the next two seasons. Nature does not prepare her seed only to die ! Old fish become barren. These two crops of eggs are to be laid, and for that the fish must live at least two years more. The impression that prevails among fishermen, both here and in Europe, that shad die after spawning, the first year, comes only from the familiar fact that fishes are in meagre condition after spawning, and that some of the weaker probably do die, and are seen floating. There was a similar idea about lamprey eels, which was to the effect that they made fast by their sucker and then slowly decayed "* * Concerning the indisposition of some persons to believe in the utility of fishways, Mr. Lyman, one of the Massachusetts Fish Com- missioners, gives the following : " When the fishway at Lowell was building, some of the factory superintendents (very intelligent men about factories), said, that the fish must have a schoolmaster to teach them to go up those steps ! The next year shad and salmon did go up, and without any schogl- master. The nearer we get to the truth, the more it stands out, that artificial propagation and free passage over dams, are the two great conditions of restocking rivers." The same writer takes the subjoined " fling" at certain slow, cautious people : " This feeling gets strength from the loose impression that game, like the Indian, is doomed, and that the last shad or trout is soon to be caught, a sort of Dr. Fear-the-Worst theory,^- 'Tlie former did maintain The man would take all medicine in vain.' " This kind of sentiment is shown by the uncomprehcnsive way 164 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. The subjoined reports for the years 1866 and 1867, made by Col. James Worrall, the Commissioner appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania, under the Act of March 30th 1866, contain information of much interest to the citizens of the state. His description of the fishway at the Colum-1 bia dam, will show the reader how such means of passage for the shad are constructed, and how the fish find their way up. He also explains the reason of the delay in build- ing fishways at other dams on the Susquehanna, as provided for under the above Act. For these reasons I have deemed it advisable to give both of his reports in full : I. " DEAR SIR : "HARBISBURG, PA., December 3d 1866. In fulfilling the duties devolved upon me under the act of 30th March 1866, ' relating to the pass- age offish along the Susquehanna and certain of its tribu- taries,' I have the honor to report as follows : in which legislative committees often receive applications from people who petition for the control of particular streams, or creeks, or ponds, for the purpose of raising fish or oysters in a systematic and economical way. At once the members begin to ask whether this control would not abrogate some grant of the Pequot Indians to Fear-the-Lord Crowell, in the year 1639; or some ancient right of the inhabitants of Harwich Centre to dig one peck of quahogs per man on that particular ground. " These same committee-men would not treat a petition for a railroad or a cotton-mill in this way, and simply because they believe in the success of a railroad or of a mill, but they do not believe in and do not know about the success of fish or oysters." CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 165 " Immediately after my appointment, by your Excel- lency, I consulted all the authorities on the subject within my reach, and finally devised a plan which was in the form of steps commencing at the comb of the dam, and falling or stepping down, one after another, at the rate of six inches per step ; each of these steps being also a trough ten feet wide, to contain a constant supply of water two feet deep for the fish to rest in during their ascent. " The width of the flight of steps was to be from two hundred feet on the main stem of the Susquehanna to a proportional width for its smaller tributaries, and the whole was to be constructed of good substantial crib work, such as is employed and approved in the construction of dams in Pennsylvania. " I had this plan carefully draughted and specified, and before the 1st of June I sent it in, plan and specification, to the following corporations owning dams on the streams mentioned, namely: The Susquehanna Canal Company) The Pennsylvania Railroad Company ; The West Branch Canal Company; The Wyoming Valley Canal Company, and The North Branch Canal Company. As these corporations owned all the lower dams on the river, and which, if not altered for the passage of fish, there would be no use in altering dams located above them, and as I knew that they all, except the Susquehanna Canal Company, held their property by purchase from the state, without encumbrance, as alleged, and deemed themselves, there- fore, exempt from the operation of the law, I did not notify individuals or corporations owning dams above them ; 166 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. for even should such accept notice, comply with the law and alter their dams, fish would be debarred from reaching them by the neglected dams below, and there would be expense and trouble for nothing. " In pursuing this course I have not obeyed the letter of the law, but I trust to be forgiven when the circum- stances are considered. My " surmises in respect to these companies proved to be correct. None, except the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany, regularly acknowledged even to have received my notification, nor have I heard from any of them since. " The Susquehanna Canal Company, owning the dam at Columbia, however, have complied with the law in every respect, as far as I was able to direct them how to do so. " On or about the 1st of June I met Mr. B. Andrews Knight, their president, at Columbia, and conferred with him on the subject, and he expressed his willingness to carry out the plan, but suggested some modifications, which I did not like to accept, until I could sustain my- self by other authorities* on the subject, and our meeting was adjourned until in July, that I might be enabled in the mean time to do so. "I proceeded immediately to the New England States ; conferred with the chairman of the Fish Committee of the Legislature of Connecticut, the Hon. Mr. Avery, and presenting credentials from your Excellency to the Governor of Massachusetts, Governor Bullock, was introduced by the Hon. Oliver Warner, Secretary of the Commonwealth of CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 167 Massachusetts, to Theodore Lyman, Esq., who has charge of the subject in that state. " In Connecticut I was informed by Mr. Avery that they did not consider the river (the Connecticut) obstructed by any works of theirs which existed in and it, that they so intended to answer the state of New Hampshire, that state having officially requested to know if any such ob- structions existed. " In Massachusetts I found that they had not advanced in these improvements further than we had, they being just then engaged in devising plans for the Merrimac, and perhaps other of their streams. "They, however, had given intelligent consideration to the subject. "Mr. Lyman is well known as a naturalist, and he had availed himself of consultations with Prof. Agassiz, whose reputation, I need not say, is, in the same pursuit, world wide. I could not learn that in the other states of New England I would be able to add to the information obtainable from these high sources in Massachusetts, so I proceeded no further than Boston. " In July I met Mr. President Knight again on the dam at Columbia, and there, in consultation with himself and Mr. Daniel Shure, the able superintendent of the Susquehanna Canal, a plan was devised, chiefly by Mr. Shure, with some modifications suggested by my New England experience, which plan has been since carried out, at a cost of some $5000 to that company, and I have reason to hope that it will prove to be a ' success.' 168 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. " If my hope should prove well-founded, some small number of shad will make their way as far up the river next spring as Duncan's island, distance a^ of nearly fifty miles higher up than they have been able to reach for many years, and this number will increase from year to year, if not too much thinned out by fishing, until we may hope for an adequte supply of this spring delicacy, being brought back to localities so long unjustly deprived of it. " I say small number, for I have recently received a letter from Mr. Lynian, of Massachusetts, the gentleman before alluded to, to whom I had communicated the progress of our operations, warning me that I ' must not be disap- pointed if my shad do not go up so fast or so far as I hope. It is not the tendency usually of fish to make much exertion to pass beyond the beds where they were spawned,' and he particularly wishes me to ' cause reliable observations to be made on this very point, and if the fish do go over the dam and pass far above it in really large numbers, that I would tell him of it, as it would be a point of interest in natural history' (See last number (October or November) of the proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Science, on the planting of shad in the Alabama river), and he adds, ' if they do not go freely over, being satisfied that they could if they chose, you must transport some from below into the basin of the dam above, and then let your legislature forbid fishing above the dam for five years. That is the term allowed in Maine to restore bar- ren rivers.' " I think we need hardly take the trouble to transplant CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 169 fish from the lower to the upper levels, for once or twice that the Columbia dam has been broken, they have made their way above it, and have been caught in small numbers at Duncan's island. " But what Mr. Lyman says is nevertheless true ; that the fish will make almost irrepressible exertions to return to the beds where they were spawned, while to pass beyond there, they will take but little trouble. " The spawn (fry) of the few, however, that make their way up, will return by resistless instinct in the following season, and it may be well to consider his other recom- mendation, that the fishing above the dam should be some- what restricted by legislative enactment for a limited period, until our great Susquehanna shall be cured of ' barrenness.' " It remains for me to describe to you the device which has been inserted in the Columbia dam. " The darn itself is about six feet high, and about a mile and a third long, and is located on a rough, rocky bed. The channel below is rapid and much interrupted by large rocks, worn by the water. The fish channels in these rapids are tortuous and much spread over the whole bed of the stream. A " point was selected within about a quarter of a mile of the York county shore, where the fish ' most do congre- gate' from all the lower channels every spring, and where many of them have been annually taken ; and at this place a section, forty feet long, was cut clean out of the 15 170 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. dam, a coffer dam having been first erected above to keep off the water. " In this opening, a new subdam was erected, so that its comb or highest elevation would about equal the level of the water below the principal dam when the fish are running (a little over three feet say). The lower slope of this subdam was placed at an inclination of one in fifteen, and the sides of the aperture in the main dam were dentated or framed in a series of offsets, so as to promote the formation of eddies in the current passing over the subdam. "When the fish are running then, in the spring, the water in the aperture will be under the influence of gravity in opposite directions. The lower water will try to attain its level, the top of the subdam and the upper water rushing through the aperture will meet and certainly drive it back, but with a force considerably impeded by the cushion, so to speak, of lower water. " The fish will be nosing along the foot of the main dam, as is their wont, and finding its passage open, agitated though it be by these contending currents, they will endeavor to pass up, and let us hope they will succeed. But should they fail in the first few trials, there are the recesses at the sides where the eddies are sure to be formed, and where they may gather strength for a renewal of the trial. I am informed, by persons in the neighborhood of Columbia, who have seen this aperture of ours with the water running through it, that there are many passages in the Conewago rapids below, which are much more difficult of ascent than this is; and which, of course, the fish must CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 171 easily pass, or they would not be caught, as they now are, at the base of the Columbia dam, their next obstacle. " Such is the result of our labors at the Columbia dam, and we have but to wait now until spring to see what action the fish, our long absent friends, will take upon the subject. " If our inducements are not sufficient, we may, in the future, be able to improve upon them, and Mr. President Knight has expressed his willingness to render all reasonable aid in making such improvements as, after experiment, may seem to be required. " The next two dams in streams, contemplated by the act, are first : the Middletown Feeder dam, crossing the Swatara a short distance from its mouth, and the Duncan's Island dam, crossing the Susquehanna at or near Clark's Ferry. These both belong to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, whom I notified, according to law, and who acknowledged the receipt of the notification. On Novem- ber the 1st, nothing had been done to either of these dams, and immediately after that day I had placed in the hands of the district attorney of Dauphin county, J. W. Simonton, Esq., a written account of my proceedings. If the case be carried to the courts, and a decision should be had against the constitutionality of the act, there will be no use in prosecuting the companies higher up the stream If the act should hold, and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company be compelled to alter its dams, the point will be settled for the upper companies, and there will be no more trouble. So I did not initiate legal proceedings in respect 172 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. to those companies, deeming it better to await the decision of the courts, in reference to the case of the next dams above Columbia." II. " SIR : "HARRISBURG, December 18th 1867. Having been re-appointed by your Excellency to the position of Commissioner, under the Act of March 30th 1866, relating to the passage of fish in the Susque- hanna and its tributaries, I have the honor to submit the following report : " The passage for fish constructed in the Columbia dam, and described in my last report, I have every reason to believe is a success. "It is notorious that shad have been caught of the very finest quality and in respectable numbers as high above the Columbia dam as Newport, on the Juniata. " The numbers actually taken, during the past season, between Columbia and the Juniata, are variously estimated at from ten to fifteen or eighteen thousand, by men in whom full reliance can be placed. " In my last year's report to Governor Curtin, I stated that the various companies owning the lower dams on the Susquehanna and its tributaries were duly notified, according to law, of what was required of them, under the act, and that no company had responded except the Susquehanna Canal Company, who had complied with the act to my satisfaction, by the construction of the designated weir. " I laid information, strictly in accordance with the act, against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, who, at that CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 173 time, owned the next structures which barred the access of the shad to the upper river. " This information was duly reported to the District Attorney of Dauphin county, but was not acted upon last year, and thus one season has been lost in the progress of our ' reconstruction.' " This year, however, true bills have been found, both against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the company owning the dams last year, and the Pennsylvania Canal Company, the party owning them at this time; and there is every reason to believe that the question of the constitutionality of the law will very soon be settled in the courts. " Should this question be put at rest so that this corporation shall be compelled under the law to erect the weirs, I have not any doubt but what shad will make their appearance once more above Duncan's Island, in the Susquehaona; and if this first company constructs, the others who were duly notified, as stated in my last year's report, namely, the North and West Branch Canal Companies and the Wyoming Valley Canal Company, must also comply or otherwise stand a lawsuit, which it is not supposed that they will do with the record against them. " The whole matter then depends upon the result of this suit. If the law now in existence be inadequate to produce the desired result, it will be for the legislature to consider the matter further. " The people on the Susquehanna, between Columbia and Duncan's Island, and up the Juniata, as far as New- 15* 174 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. . port, have had a taste of fish ; and those living above those points being informed that with an expenditure of a few thousand dollars at each dam, this delicious luxury can be brought again to their doors, it will not be at all surprising if they should feel exceedingly anxious that a law should be passed benefiting them in the same way. " Large numbers of the spawned fry of the shad have been observed at various points making their way down the river during the fall, and the bodies of the old fish those that had fulfilled their mission in spawning were also seen at various points, in large numbers, late in the season, floating down with the current. " I should not be surprised, therefore, if the catch in the coming season would double or treble the number taken during the season last past, for it is a well-known instinct of this branch of the finny tribe that they return unerringly to the localities in which they were spawned, unless prevented by some insurmountable obstacle inter- posed during their absence. " The erection of fish dams (weirs) in the river, how- ever, will tend very materially to diminish this desirable result, and public opinion in Dauphin, Cumberland, and Perry counties is so strong against these devices, that I believe but a single one was erected along the borders of those counties this year, and that one was promptly sup- pressed by law. " Having heard, however, that some of those nuisances were about to be, or had been erected, along the river nearer to Columbia, I caused the citizens to be requested to lodge information against them. CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 175 " No such information has been lodged, and I have not been able to ascertain to what extent the downward passage of the spawn has been interrupted in the localities spoken of. The main dams in the river are scarcely a greater obstruction to the passage of shad than these fishtraps they catch the spawn (fry) in their meshes, and there the little creatures die by the thousand. " It is in the hands of the people to remedy this crying evil. The laws against the erection of such structures are sufficiently stringent to put a stop to them altogether; but unless those interested will lodge information, the system will continue, and although the most efficient weirs (fish- ways) shall be made in the large dams for the passage of fish up the stream, unless the way for the spawn (fry) to get down be left open, no increase in the catch from year to year can be expected. " There is no state, county, or township officer whose business it is specially to watch this infraction of the law, and I would suggest that it be made the duty of some such official in the counties bordering upon the river to have an eye upon it notifying all persons against putting up such structures, and that if they should still persist in doing so they will be proceeded against in the most sum- mary manner. A " little active interest taken by the public in this regard is all that is necessary, and it cannot be many years until the shad shall be fully reinstated in the Susquehanna and its tributaries for hundreds of miles." 176 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. THE ALEWIFE. THIS species (tyranus), of the same genus as the fine fish just treated of, is the gaspereau of the Canadians, the ale- wife of the New England states, and the herring of the Middle and Southern States. The means to be used for its restoration to the streams from which it has been driven are so identical with those now being resorted to for the purpose of bringing back shad and salmon, that I have not thought it necessary to make more than this brief allusion to it. One habit of this species, here and further south, is somewhat different from the habit which prevails with it at the north. I allude to its entering very small streams to spawn. In the Delaware it does not ascend the upper waters as far as the shad, not being abundant above the terminus of the tide. The same may be said of it to the southward. Here, as in the Eastern states, there are several runs differing in size, the earlier being larger fish. South they have been, and continue to be, so abundant that no thought of their becoming scarce has ever been entertained. As an evidence of their abundance, I quote as follows from the "American Anglers' Book:" " In Maryland and Virginia they have even been used as manure, as the small species known as 'manhaden' and ' mossbunkers' have been farther north. In Virginia and North Carolina, the custom of visiting the ' fishing-shores' annually for a supply of herrings to salt down, still exists as an ' institution/ and the inhabitants for many miles back CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 177 from the rivers that furnish these fish, come every spring and take away immense numbers of them. " One of the greatest hauls with a seine that I ever heard of, was made by a fisherman on the Potomac near Dumfries, Va. With one sweep of his long net he encompassed a school which supplied all applicants. He sold them as long as they would bring a price, and then, after furnishing them to the people of the immediate neighborhood without charge, lifted his net and allowed the remain- der of the imprisoned fish to escape. " The herring will occasionally take a bait, and on a sunshiny day in May, when the wind is from the south, will jump at a piece of red flannel tied to a hook. An old Scotch merchant of New York a superannuated trout- fisher some years back was in the habit of fishing for them with a fly, from the decks of vessels in the East River." 178 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. CHAPTER VII. NATURALIZATION OP FISHES. General remarks. SALMONID.E. The Brook Trout. Instances of its naturalization. The Lake Trout. Mr. Robinson's letter on its propagation. The Schoodic and Sebago Salmon. Extract concerning its habits and propagation, from Maine Fish Commissioners' Report. The Sea Trout of Canada. Advantages of naturalizing it. The Grayling. New species found in Michigan. The White Fish. Its excellence, habits, and manner of propagating. The Otsego Bass. Not a bass. The Smelt. General remarks. PERCID.E. The Rock Fish. The Crappie. The Black Bass of the Lakes. Its adaptability to naturalization. The Black Bass of the West ana South. Its introduction into the Potomac. Mr. Wright's score of fish taken with the rod. Their naturalization in mill-ponds. SILURID.S:. Small Species. Their excellence as food. Manner of cooking them. Their proposed introduction into England. CYPRINID^E. General remarks on. EsociD-as. Injurious results from introducing them. I USE the term naturalization as the most appropriate in reference to fishes which are to be introduced into a new habitat. Not only in France and England is this branch of fish culture claiming the consideration of thinking and enterprising persons, but in this country its great advantages are beginning to be appreciated. The French government and people have become aware of the value which lies in hitherto waste and uncultivated waters, and, as I NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 179 have remarked on a preceding page, have made considerable progress in turning them to profit. The fact that certain fishes are not found in certain waters is no indication that such waters are not suitable to them. I know of several instances on fine brisk streams where trout were unknown above high falls, until a few were passed over, and thus introduced above. Here they are prolific, and grow as large as their progenitors in the waters below. Lakelets and new streams have also been successfully stocked with these fish. I also know of natural and artificial ponds, as well as mill-ponds and rivers, where the two species of black bass have been introduced, and where they have multiplied and grow to the size they do in the waters they were taken from. Waters have no doubt been accidentally, or it may be said, providentially, stocked with percoids, cyprinoids, and pike, by the ova of these fish (which are surrounded by a glutinous substance) adhering to the legs of wading birds, which have transported them in their flight from one river or lake to another. Some even suppose that the eggs of fish have been swallowed by birds in one stream, and pass- ing undigested through them, have been deposited in other water. The latter theory is scarcely tenable ; with the ova of trout or salmon either would be impossible. Referring to the stocking and replenishing of certain waters of the Mis- sissippi Valley with percoids, I hope I shall be excused for again quoting from the " American Anglers' Book :" " I have alluded on another page, to the replenishing of the lakelets, found so abundantly scattered along the 180 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. margin of the Mississippi, through its alluvial bottom lands, by the occasional overflow of that river. This phenomenon is strongly presented to the notice of observing anglers in the neighborhood of St. Louis, and one is apt to wonder where the great numbers and varieties of the perch family come from, to stock those sluggish waters. In thinking over the matter, I have fallen back on my favorite theory, the instinctive migration of surplus production, as applicable to fresh-water fishes, as well as to salt water or pela- gian genera. " If the reader will take the trouble to look at a good map, he will see that the states north and west of the con- fluence" of the Mississippi and Ohio, are threaded for thou- sands of miles by rivers of gentle flow, and dotted with innu- merable lakelets, which, to a great extent, are the feeders and sources of the Mississippi. These are the breeding-places of bass, crappie, and other percoids ; most of them spawn early in the spring, soon after the ice has left the lakelets ; and as most fresh-water species instinctively run down stream after spawning, it is easily conjectured how large schools of these fish are hurried along by freshets, and deposited in the ponds that are fed by the overflow of the great river. " After a rise in the Mississippi, the lakes and ponds that skirt its course, above the mouth of the Ohio, and down through the regions of cotton and sugar, are filled with fish of this family. " In the ponds which have been replenished in this way in the neighborhood of St. Louis, their numbers decrease NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 181 very little the first summer ; the second season they spawn and breed, as in their native waters, but if the ponds are not refreshed by an overflow of the river every two or three years, the waters lose the chemical condition necessary to the reproduction of fish, from a continued infusion of decayed vegetable matter, and the lakes become barren, until another overflow of the mighty river comes rushing through, clearing them of foul, and filling them with fresh water; and restocking them at the same time with fish, and most numerously with percoids. " Below its junction with the Ohio, the Mississippi has made, in the course of time, many a " cut off," forcing its way in times of flood, across the neck of a peninsula or a bend, in seeking a more direct course, and leaving con- siderable bodies of water, of a horse-shoe shape, as the old channel closes. These are fed by the annual or occasional overflow of the river, and their waters refreshed and re- stocked with fish, as just described. Bruin Lake, opposite Grand Gulf, Mississippi, is a water of this kind, and is said to contain bass (or as they are there called trout) of im- mense size. I have been told by an angler, that he has taken there, in a day's fishing, thirty of these fish, whose aggregate length was sixty feet." In naturalization, care is required that predatory fishes are not introduced into waters with more valuable species ; black bass, for instance, should not inhabit waters where We the young of salmon and shad are reared. occasion- ally find through the country, pig-headed individuals who have introduced pike into ponds which were well stocked 16 182 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. with trout, because the former were larger fish. The con- sequence of course is, that the valuable and more beauti- ful trout are exterminated by these fresh-water sharks in a few years. The quality of the water should also be considered, cold or warm, clear or muddy, swift or sluggish ; and such fish introduced as are natural to the stream or pond. As it is inferred that naturalized fish will propagate naturally, it is necessary that' suitable spawning-beds A should be accessible to them in their new home. cool, well-shaded lakelet, which it is intended to stock with trout, should have spring brooks or rapid streams entering; these should be provided with an abundance of gravel in gentle and shallow currents. For fish of the carp and perch families, aquatic weeds and grass or brush should be fur- nished, on which these fishes deposit their spawn ; which is agglutinated together, and adhere to aquatic plants or stones by means of the viscid matter which surrounds the eggs. Bundles of faggots tied irregularly may even be placed in parts of a pond where they are likely to spawn for their accommodation. The impregnated ova could be collected, if desired, as it is in China, and transported adhering to the twigs, in water, or stripped off, if done gently, and sent away in small vessels. The naturalization of species belonging to the perch family is, or should be, a matter of importance to the peo- ple of the Western States. Many an insignificant stream which now affords a home only for small worthless species might be dammed and stocked with bass obtained from NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 183 A larger waters. supply of fish food which is now pre- carious and only obtained by a long trip to rivers and lakes, might be thus made certain and brought to one's own premises or immediate neighborhood. Concerning the hybridizing of fish, I would here re- mark that many erroneous notions prevail, and some very impracticable suggestions have been made by those who should know better, about crossing different genera or When species. fish culture was in its iricipiency, some of the learned men of France, amongst whom (if I remember correctly), certain renowned biologists were included, sug- gested crossing the pike with the salmon. I have no knowledge of any results from experiments of this kind which are reported to have been made at Huningue, but I doubt whether the ova of one genus (to say nothing of that of a different family), can be impregnated with the milt of another. If species of the same genus were even crossed, it is reasonable to suppose that the progeny would not be endowed with reproductive powers. They would, doubtless, be mules. There is a limit to the violation or interference with certain laws of nature, and hybrids when We produced, are inferior animals. see it in the produce of the horse and ass, where the reproductive power is lost ; and in the mulatto, where the physical condition of the Caucasian or the negro, in most cases, deteriorates. Ex- periments in hybridizing, therefore, may develope certain truths that might be interesting to biologists ; but that new species or mules of larger growth or greater excellence can be thus produced, it is unreasonable to hope for. 184 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. my It is purpose to treat separately, and under its appro- priate head, of the species of each family which I have thought may be advantageously naturalized. SALMONID^!. Having already treated at length of the cultivation of the true salmon ($. salar~), I will proceed with other species of the same genus. THE BROOK TROUT (S. fontinalis). This, as well as its nobler cogener, has already occupied so much space that further notice of it might be deemed superfluous. Still its cultivation is a matter of so much importance that I shall offer some remarks on its naturalization. No sooner is a line of travel opened to within a reason- able distance of any part of the country where trout are abundant, than the backwoodsman, in league with the city fish dealer, commences a war of extermination. Urged on by the high price they bring in market, all manner of means, fair and foul, are used to take them, and they are sent to the cities in season and out of season. Sometimes trout of unusual size are offered for sale even in the streets of New York just after they have spawned, and incon- siderate people buy them, when they are no more to com- pare to the same fish in June than a handful of dried We apples are to a Newton pippin. also see them gar- nished and displayed in the windows of restaurants in October and November, and those who are ignorant of the flavor of a trout in good condition, eat them because trout are considered a delicacy. I forget how many tons of NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 185 trout are estimated to have been sent from the Umbagog region to Boston last fall. Another cause for the decline of trout streams is the relentless manner in which these fish are pursued with hook and line. Fish of all sizes, from the length of one's finger upwards, are strung or basketed by country bait-fisher or city angler with his flies. The poor ambition possessing each, that he may boast of the numbers of trout he has exterminated, without regard to size j for with such the fingerling counts one, as does the fish that runs one's line off the reel. With this state of semi-barbarism existing and it appears almost impossible to ameliorate it it is evident that naturalization and arti- ficial propagation must be resorted to in more thickly settled parts of the country, if we wish to prevent these beautiful fish from becoming almost as rare in our streams as salmon now are. I have alluded in the introduction to this article, to the stocking of the upper parts of streams with this fish, and could cite instances in which they have been quietly intro- duced into others, where, after a few years, those who transplanted them were rewarded with good fishing, until the knowledge of such fact caused the brook to be over- fished. The Cuttyhunk Club, an association of anglers who have established themselves on the island bearing that name, are about introducing brook trout into a fine fresh water pond on their grounds. In a letter, bearing date We April 25th, a member of -the club says: " have not got along far enough at Cuttyhunk to give any decided 16* 186 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. We result. have had 21,000 spawn from Seth Green, of which we think we have hatched and have in good lively condition all except about 2000. These fish we have in boxes, fed by a cool spring, and arranged under Green's per- sonal inspection, and attended by Capt. Simons, an enthu- We siastic and very careful person. have plenty of water to keep these little fellows confined until this fall, when we shall turn them into a pond of ten acres and about twenty feet deep, cool, fed by springs. No outlet except what leeches through the sand into the sea. In very heavy weather the sea sometimes dashes a little salt water into this pond, which lies about four feet above high tide, and We this we think a good feature. have now about 300 fish of a quarter of a pound each in this pond with lots of feed." Having occupied so much space with the cultivation of the trout, I shall conclude by giving the following from the Maine Fish Commissioners' report concerning its naturali- zation : " Maj. S. Dill, of Phillips, writes to the Maine Farmer : ' In the fall of 1850 I, put into the Sandy river ponds ten or twelve trout ; for seven or eight years no indications of them were to be seenj notwithstanding thousands of people crossed those ponds every year. Since 1857 it is judged that not less than 2000 pounds have been taken out annually. So far as I have been able to inform myself, never a fish had been seen in either of those ponds prior " my to colonization.' THE LAKE TROUT. Of these we have many species, from the gigantic S. Namaycush to the lesser trout of our NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 187 smaller lakes. They are known in Canada as " Lunge," in some of the Eastern States as " Togue," the average of the species in the smaller lakes not exceeding three or four pounds. Experiments were made last winter by Mr. Robinson, of Meredith, N. H., in hatching the ova of the lake trout found in his vicinity. In a letter to Mr. Ains- worth he says : "In regard to our lake trout, I am making the experiment of hatching them, under the patronage of the New Hampshire Commissioners. I am well satis- fied with the result thus far, considering my want of know- ledge in the business. I think that, with a little more light on the subject, I can make a perfect success. I lost a great many spawn by bringing them home in buckets, sitting in the bottom of a wagon, and others by being jarred in a boat beating to windward in a heavy sea. All I transported without jar are hatching well. There is no real trouble in obtaining the spawn. The fish come on the shoals to spawn, and can be taken in mesh-nets without at all injuring the fish. I captured some 250 fish of both sexes, and after manipulating, returned them to the lake and killed but few. , Those I took were of the proportion of five or six males to one female. The amount of spawn I should judge would be about the same as salmon, say about 2000 for a two-pound fish and upwards, to 10,000 for a ten-pounder." There is but little doubt that any of the species referred to can be naturalized in lakelets that are suitable to the black bass of the northern lakes.' They do not appear to be prolific, as they are not found in great numbers in the lakes 188 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. they now inhabit; nor is the flesh of any of them com- parable to that of the true salmon, the land-locked salmon, or the brook trout. The last report of the Maine Fish Commissioners contains the following remarks on their habits : " Late in October they resort to shoal water, and spawn on rocks and ledges. They come suddenly, finish the operation in a few nights, and immediately retire to deep water. It has been noticed that the females come to the spawning-grounds first. The first night of their appearance nearly all will be females, and at the last nearly all males. They are accompanied and followed by a motley throng, composed of nearly all kinds of fishes in the lake, eels and hornpouts predominating. Probably few of the eggs escape them." THE SCHOODIO TROUT, or more properly salmon (. jftoverf), and the Sebago salmon ($. Sebago}, I am in- clined to believe are identical. Both are doubtless land- locked salmon, having lost the instinct of migration to sea many, many generations back. It is likely that at some remote period natural obstructions prevented their migrations to the ocean, and the habit of reproducing in fresh waters without going to sea to recuperate was forced upon them and became an instinct. These modified salmon (if I may so call them) are now permanent in Sebago and Schoodic lakes, although there appears to be no obstruction to the marine migrations of the latter. These fish could probably be naturalized in the snialler lakes of New England and New York. In the Umbagog region they would, NATUKALIZATION OF FISHES. 189 without doubt, do well. - Chautauque Lake, near the divid- ing line between Pennsylvania and New York, could likely be stocked with them ; at all events such an enterprise is worth the experiment. The following interesting account of the Sebago salmon is taken from the Maine Fish Commissioners' Report : " This species was once quite abundant in the waters connected with Sebago Lake ; but torch and spear, and exclusion from the spawning-grounds, have made great inroads on their numbers. Probably not more than a thousand of them are now taken annually. Nathan Cum- mings, Esq., of Portland, has given us much information about these fish. He says that when the Cumberland and Oxford Canal was building, during the first winter the workmen sent away fifty barrels of them. Mr. Cummings used to fish for them very successfully at the outlet of Se- bago Lake, but for some years he has tried them there to no purpose. They are still brought in limited numbers into Portland each spring and fall, mostly from the lower part of Crooked and Songo rivers. " The principal breeding-grounds of this salmon at the present time are on Crooked river, below Edes Falls, in the town of Naples, and in Bear brook, at the head of Long Pond, near Harrison village. They make their first appear- ance in the direction of their spawning-beds about the 1st of September; in Crooked river a little earlier than in Bear brook. In the latter stream the males come first alone, and run back and forth in the mouth of the brook until the last of the month, when they are joined by a few 190 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. females, but these are still very few until the 15th of October. Soon after this date they begin to ascend the rapids to spawn. It is not often, however, that any of them are ma- ture and commence spawning until the 20th. They come then in considerable numbers, and soon finish spawning. Very few are found in the brook as late as November 14th, although probably they sometimes spawn later. Crooked river is a larger stream, and they report different habits in some respects. The very first that come into the stream are males, but after that the females seem to head the advance, and the males follow them; taking the whole of September, the males are not more numerous than the other sex. In the whole season there are more males. They sometimes continue to spawn very late. The state of the water has a great influence on their motions at this A time. rise is followed by a plentiful run of fish. " Their beds are made in the gravel where the current is rapid, but just on the verge of a ripple in the water ; rarely seen on the lower side of a ripple. They make large excavations, the sand and gravel from which are carried out by the current, and form a mound below. These excavations are sometimes three feet in diameter, A and are made by more than one pair. large number of both sexes are sometimes seen together in one hole. No fighting is observed amongst the males. It is more com- mon, however, to see a single pal^ working together, lying side by side in the nest. They make the excavations by fanning with the tail, no digging with the head being ob- served. On favorite grounds the nests encroach on each other NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 191 on all sides, frequently lying one above another, like a row of potato hills ; but whether one pair makes more than one nest has not been ascertained. The work of spawning is carried on at night, and by day the fish are rarely to be seen on the beds. Their ascent of the stream also occurs by night. The old fish eat nothing during this season; but small males are taken with their stomachs full of eggs. The adult males are very different in appearance from the other sex, being much deeper and thinner, with larger and more pointed heads.* The lower jaw is furnished at the spawning season with a singular recurved process, sometimes near an inch in length, which shuts into the roof of the mouth; it is conical in form, either truncated or with the apex bent backward. On an adult male of one pound weight this was present, but not so fully developed as in the larger specimens. In younger individuals it was want- ing. Both jaws in this sex are so curved as to prevent the A closing of the mouth. male of six inches length had a forked tail, eight or nine black bars across the side, twelve large vermilion spots on the side. One that measured eight and one-half inches in length, has the same forked tail, and the bars on the side, but they are very faint, and the vermilion spots have changed to maroon; the hook on the jaw not yet visible. " The spawning-grounds of this species are very limited. Those of Long Pond are confined to Bear brook. Those of Sebago are mostly limited to two or three miles of * This difference in the forms of the male and female is peculiar to all the species of the genus Salmo at the spawning season. 192 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. Crooked river. In former times they ranged at the