Salmon Spawning and Migration Patterns

spawn- ing season the whole length of Crooked river, as far, at least, as North Waterford, and great numbers of them were taken at many points ; but they were never known to ascend the river at any other season than fall, farther than the first gentle rapids near its mouth. This is rather singular; for the sea salmon ($. salar) ascends rivers of smaller size than this in June, and passes the summer in them. The grand fishing-place in May was from the junction of Crooked and Songo rivers several miles down. The fish took bait eagerly, and were then in superior con- dition. They left this ground as early as the last of May, but at the outlet they were taken much later. In the lake itself they were only caught in the track of the rafts that came down across the lake into Presumpscot river, and the arrival of the rafts at the outlet was always the signal for good fishing there. In Long Pond they are never caught only when entering the brook, and in the spring only a few small ones are taken there. " The size attained by the Sebago salmon is very con- siderable. The average of those taken in the fall is, for the males, 5 pounds ; for the females, a little more than A 3. female 25 inches long weighs 5 pounds; a male of the same length weighs 7 pounds. Of two males 29 inches long, one weighed 9 pounds 14 ounces, the other 11 pounds 4 ounces. Some extreme weights may be given. One was taken the past season at Edes Falls that dressed 14 J pounds. The largest on .record was caught by Mr. Sawyer, of Ray- mond. Its weight was 17 \ pounds, and is vouched for by NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 193 Franklin Sawyer, Esq., of Portland. These old fish are seldom caught with the hook ; and of those taken in the spring and summer, when they are in season, the average weight would be less than indicated by the above. " These fish are said to be about as plenty as they were ten years ago. But it is strange that they can maintain their numbers against such persecution as follows them. The spear is very fatal. In Bear brook nearly all the breeding males are destroyed before the females are ready to spawn. In 1858 a law was passed for their protection, which would enable them to recruit their numbers were it enforced. We " consider this variety worthy of being propagated and disseminated through the state."* THE SEA TROUT (Salmo Canadensis of Hamilton Smith). my From all researches the only scientific ac- count given of this fish is by the present writer.^ Hamilton Smith, though he named it, scarcely refers to its specific characteristics. It is decidedly distinct from the varieties of S. fontinalis which migrate to and from * Mr. Nathan Cummings, of Portland, Maine, has communi- cated to the Massachusetts Fish Commissioners the following con- cerning the agility of the young of this fish : " The young are very agile. Some of them, bred artificially by Mr. Robinson, at Meredith, N. H., were put, when quite small, in a tank, into which, from a height of nine inches, fell a stream of water flowing through a one and a half inch hole ; whereupon the lively parrs leaped up the stream, and into the upper tank, like harlequin going through a clock-face." f See American Anglers' Book, page 238. 17 N 194 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. salt water, and which acquire a larger size and darker tinted flesh by feeding upon Crustacea found there. Nor has it but slight affinity to the sea trout (Salmo trutta) of Scotland and Ireland. These fish come in large schools into the Canadian and New Brunswick streams. On their arrival they are beau- tifully bright and of surpassingly delicate flavor, but like the salmon, which they precede a month or so, they lose their brilliancy and flesh up to the time of spawning, which is in October. As far as I have examined them their stomachs are empty after entering fresh water, while an occasional brook trout taken in the same pool has a well- filled paunch. They are, therefore, purely anadromous, and like the salmon attain all of their growth and flavor at sea. On this account they are desirable subjects for naturaliza- tion, and should be introduced with the salmon, and be made to participate in the facilities which are now being created to enable them to ascend our rivers. Four pounds is not an unusual size ; they are sometimes taken as high as six and seven pounds. In the summer of 1865 I stopped with a friend at Harris's, on the Tabasintac, an inconsiderable stream half way between Chatham and Bathurst, New Brunswick, to My enjoy the sea-trout fishing. friend captured a goodly number of them under a pound weight, near the house after taking our tea. The next morning we travelled seven miles down the creek in a large " dug-out," drawn by a pair of stout horses, rumbling along over cobble-stones down to the junction of the Escadillach. Here, in less than NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 195 four hours, at midday and under a bright sun, we captured four and a half bushels of these handsome fish and left off A from pure satiety. hundred of these fish were over two pounds in weight, and many of them four pounds, although our attendant lamented that there were no large ones in the pool. In fishing with two flies on ordinary trout gut, the fish, having a dead pull against each other, would break loose. After losing many flies in this way, we each fished with a single salmon fly, generally a worn-out one, left from my former summer's tackle ; and as long as there was dubbing or feather on the hook they would seize it freely. Their sharp teeth, which are much more formida- ble than those of our brook trout, made a frequent renewal We necessary. would have ceased this havoc sooner, but young Harris, who drove our aquatic vehicle, said he hauled the pool with a seine two or three times during the summer for a stock of trout to salt down ; we accordingly kept on until we had taken the quantity above given, to save him the trouble of making the pool a visit with his seine. These fish frequent and spawn in the Miramichi, on which river (I have been informed by Rev. Livingston Stone, of New Hampshire), a salmon-hatching establish- ment will be started the coming autumn. Of course it is to be supposed that those who have charge of it, will not neglect so favorable an opportunity of procuring the eggs of the sea trout and giving them the opportunity of making sufficient progress in incubation to insure their safe trans- portation to the states. At the time of writing the foregoing chapter on the 196 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. cultivation of the salmon, I was not aware that so spirited and praiseworthy an undertaking as the one alluded to was contemplated, and gladly make this digression to commend it. The necessity of manipulating salmon on the stream and transporting the spawn immediately after impregnation, when the ova are so apt to lose their vitality by being agitated, and not allowing sufficient time in hatchingtroughs for the early development of the young fish in the eggs, has been almost the only bar to the success of those who had the task of introducing salmon into the rivers of New England. It is a matter of gratulation that this difficulty is about to be obviated. Not having Mr. Stone's letter at hand at the time of writing this, I am unable to say whether it is an enterprise of his own, or of the New England Fish Commissioners, but shall throw some light upon the question in an appendix. Thymallus. To this genus belongs the English grayling. Dr. Richardson, in his " Fauna Boreali- Americana," gives an account of two species. Another has lately been discovered in some of the affluents of Green Bay. It is described as a fish of rare beauty and excellence. While on a trout-fishing excursion lately in the north-western part of Pennsylvania, I met with a very intelligent, though not scientific person, who informed me that he, last summer, while exploring some timber lands on the Oconto and Au Sable (though I can find no such stream as the latter on the map), met with a new kind of trout, which he had never seen before. From his description it was, doubtless, this new species of Thymallus. He informed me that it NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 197 took readily a bait of the flesh of one of its fellows, a worm having been used to capture the first fish, and that it was very beautiful and of delicious flavor. Cannot some of the spirited commissioners of fisheries of the New England States introduce this new fish into their waters ? WHITE-FISH. Lake herrings, Otsego bass, and species known by other local names are included in the genus Coregonus. It is likely that we have no less than ten distinct species, from the fat-beladened C. albus or sapidissimus and G. quadrilateralis of the Arctic regions, to the little lake herring found in the Saranac lakes. They are all peaceable dwellers in the depths ; approaching the shores, or the rapids of some affluent in autumn to spawn, at which time most of those found in our markets are taken. It is said that no food has ever been detected in the stomachs of these fish. In this respect they show a marked analogy to the shad and herring. It is said of them also, that on rare occasions they have been known to take a bait and even to rise to a fly ; their food, though, is a matter of mystery. They are not predatory, as will be seen from the mouth and jaws. Although their food may consist of minute Crustacea, they are, perhaps, to a certain extent, herbiverous, as cyprinoids are,* and may find certain fresh-water algae in the deeps where they feed. * Fishes that are considered purely predatory in their habits, A are, in some degree, omnivorous. striped bass will take a bait of shad roe ; I found once in the throat of one, several roots and A stalks of some succulent aquatic grass. trout or a salmon will also take a bait of the roe of one of its own species. 17* 198 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. TTie Large-White, Fish (C. albus), is a fish of rare delicacy. Its flesh and skin contain a large proportion of gelatine. In autumn, at spawning time, it is difficult to broil it because of the fat; which dripping on the coals ignites and frequently envelopes gridiron and fish in a blaze. Its fatness even disfigures it. With head sunk in its shoulders, it presents the appearance of the body of a shad with the head of a herring. This, with its congener ( C. guadrilateralis) , furnishes a large amount of food to the northern Indians. Twenty-five years since a goodly portion of the Chippeways, who were permanently encamped at Sault St. Marie, subsisted chiefly on them, taking them in large numbers in the rapids with dip-nets. In the regions around the lakes of northern British America and Hud- son's Bay, it also furnishes a large proportion of food. Its flesh cloys less than that of any other fish, and it can be eaten for months without getting tired of it. The average size of this fish in the upper of the large lakes of the great range, is somewhat over three pounds; they have been taken in Lake Superior weighing as much as ten and twelve pounds. The usual size of those brought to our city markets is about two pounds. They should be naturalized in every lake that will afford them a suitable habitat. The following from the last Maine report throws much light on their manner of propagation : " Mr. Clark is engaged in the fishery in Detroit river He estimated the total catch of white-fish in that river alone, this year, to be half a million or more in number, NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 199 weighing a million and a half of pounds, or seven hundred and fifty tons. At the retail price in Boston these would be worth $250,000. Mr. Clark has a pound with an area of an acre and a half, six feet deep, made by enclosing with stakes a portion of Detroit river, in which he keeps white-fish from November until the last of the winter, when they are caught out and marketed. They are first taken with a seine before they have spawned, and most of them spawn here in the pound. The operation is in the following manner : the opposite sexes approach each other, turning partially on the side, and the male appearing to attach himself by his soft flexible mouth to the female near her gills; then both fish dart off through the water together, and as they go the female ejects the eggs and the male the milt, in such a way that they mingle together and fall to the bottom. They move ten or twenty feet at a time, and each time eject several hundred eggs. Mr. Clark placed sieves on the bottom at night, and in the morning found many thousand impregnated eggs on them. Mr. Clark has taken the pains to procure, pack, and send to us two separate lots of these eggs, to assist us in ascer- taining the best mode of packing and transportation. Of the first lot, packed in cotton batting, in sand and in river grass, a few survived the journey, out of fifty thousand; but of the other lot, packed in river mud and partially frozen, not one survived.* Further experiment would, no * The only mode of obviating this destruction of ova in transportation, is to have them partially incubated before sending them away. 200 AMERICAN PISH CULTURE. doubt, bring to light a method by which they could be successfully brought." THE OTSEGO BASS (C. otsego). This fish bears the very inappropriate name of "Bass" in Lake Otsego, while it does not bear the most remote affinity to any of the numerous genera of bass. Thus far it is unknown in any other water than that which gives it its specific name. It is said even to surpass the larger white-fish in excellence. Its average size is not much more than half that of C. albus. It could likely be naturalized in small lakes of a more southern latitude than the large white-fish, and is well worthy of the attention of those who take an interest in diffusing the best species. The smaller species of this genus are not unworthy of the notice of those who would like to see a variety introduced in the many lakelets which dot our Northern and Middle States. The fera, of which millions are hatched at Huningue and sent to all parts of France, are similar to those we call lake herrings. THE SMELT (Osmerus'). Of this genus we have two species. Those usually found in our markets (0. viridescens) are taken in great numbers on tidal rivers north of Boston, and along the coast of the British Provinces. The annual value of those sent from Boston exceeds a hundred thousand dollars. They are retailed in our markets at from fifteen to thirty-three cents a pound, and make a most palatable dish for breakfast or supper. The roe is particularly delicate. They are so abundant at the head of tide, where they come to spawn, on some of the rivers NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 201 emptying into the Bay of Chaleurs, as to be used for manure ; a barrel of them in abundant seasons selling for sixty cents. The average length is not over seven inches, although they have been taken as long as twelve inches. Both here and in England the smelt has been naturalized in fresh-water ponds and lakes ; although an interference with their partially anadromous habits, produces genera- tions of smaller and, perhaps, less palatable fish. The reports of the New England Fish Commissioners give several instances of their naturalization in fresh waters. The Maine report for 1867 has the following : " Smelts are scattered all over the state. It seems probable that we have more than one species. Whether either of them is identical with the salt-water smelt we cannot say, but the resemblance is very close. In several localities they attain a large size. Those of Harrison are said to exceed half a pound in weight, and those of Belgrade to measure fourteen inches in length. In spring they approach the shores, and are sometimes thrown upon the land by a heavy wind, and perish in great numbers, the shores being lined with the dead. About the 1st of May they ascend the streams. In Monmouth they run into some very small rills that lead into Cochnewagn Pond, and are dipped out in considerable quantities. In May 1867, after it was supposed they were all gone, a fresh run occurred, that yielded thirty barrels. In quality the freshwater smelts are fully equal to those from the tide-waters. Those from Monmouth have been placed side by side with smelts from Damariscotta, and received the preference." 202 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. The smaller species, 0. sergeantti, found in the Passaic and Raritan, and discovered lately in the Schuylkill and tributaries of the Delaware, is preferred by many, to those brought from the north. The peculiar odor of a freshly taken smelt, resembling that of a newly pulled cucumber, is observed readily in the more southern species, and epi- cures accord to it a great superiority over the northern fish. They are found with us only in winter and early spring, when they spawn and then disappear. They never ascend above the head of tide, neither do the northern species, from all I have learned of them in New Brunswick and Canada. From the success that has attended efforts to introduce the northern species into fresh water, it is evident that these are not without claims to naturalization. In this notice of these beautiful and delicate little fish I may appropriately allude to their food. An examination of their dentition, and I may say of their stomachs also, evinces an extremely predatory nature. During the last winter I took from the pouch of one of the northern species, three undigested shrimp, two of the small fry of some marine species, and a half a dozen ova, as large as the eggs of our brook trout. Some years ago I made a similar examination of a number of smelt and found that all of them had been feeding bountifully on shrimp. I was not aware until then that these lively little crustaceans could be found in winter. The fact of their being found along our north-eastern coast at this season of the year is suggestive of the vast amount of marine food accessible to pelagian and anadromous fishes at all times. Small NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 203 Crustacea, both in winter and summer, and the larger, when thi'v shed their hard coats, must contribute largely to the sustenance of fishes that inhabit salt and brackish water. PERCID^E. We have many fishes included in this family that can be readily naturalized. They are found both in salt and fresh waters. Our fresh rivers, lakes, ponds, lagoons, and bayous are rich in genera and species. They are all hardy fish, firm of flesh, and excellent eating. THK ROCK FISH, or Striped Bass (Lalraxlineatus), is A " fish of wonderful beauty and force, That bites like a steel trap, and pulls like a horse." S.ome ineffectual attempts have been made to naturalize it in fresh-water ponds by those who have not taken into consideration that it is to a great extent an anadromin, and that to continue its generations in size and perfection, it must necessarily make yearly migrations to salt water. I have no doubt it would deteriorate in purely fresh water as much as the salmon or shad, if this law of its nature was set aside. Still if it grew to half its accustomed size, when prevented from going down to salt or brackish waters, it might be profitably naturalized in fresh ponds and lakes. From all I have learned of its habits, it re- produces in tidal creeks and coves where fresh streams A enter, and not above tide, as the -salmon. friend, whose statement I consider reliable, informs me that in some of the shallow waters along our southern coast, he has dipped 204 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. up a hand-net full of the fry. They are seldom found at least not in large numbers above the head of tide until they have attained some size ; and their pushing, predatory instinct must induce them to ascend so far only for feed. This species is rare in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the rivers and bays connecting with it. THE WHITE PERCH (Labrax pallidus). This is a beau- tiful fish ; silvery bright in tidal rivers, and on open rocky or sandy bottoms ; of greenish or golden hue where it lives amongst grass and aquatic weeds; and of darker tint when it inhabits discolored waters, and muddy or peaty bottoms. Southward, in tidal streams, it may be enume- rated with anadromous fishes. In the Middle and Eastern States it is not unfrequently found in fresh-water lakelets or ponds having no communication with salt water. At the south its average size is larger than at the north ; and it is with surprise that we find northern ichthyologists underrat- ing it in this particular, and fish commissioners alluding to it as a fish unworthy of their consideration for culture. A white perch of twelve inches will weigh nearly a pound. I have taken them of this size in numbers in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which in its course occupies a considerable length of an old mill-pond and St. George's creek. These fish breed here in the coves, and the canal no doubt receives fresh accessions from the Dela- ware through the locks at Delaware City. South of v A * singular fact, I am credibly informed, is noticed here every spring. The alewives, or herrings, as we term them, collect NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 205 Philadelphia as far as Savannah, white perch occupy an important place amongst "pan fish." They are hardy and prolific, and much better eating than the yellow or barred perch. If they could be made to take the place of the latter in ponds or lakes where these now abound, it would be a great desideratum. THE CRAPPIE, so called by the habitans of French extraction in Missouri, and " Sac a lai" by the Creoles of Louisiana, is the Pomoxis hexacanthus of Cuvier. This is one of the most beautiful percoids known. It is found in sluggish waters from the Carolinas southward on the Atlantic, and in the bayous and lakelets of the Mississippi Valley, from the Gulf to Minnesota. An excellent en- graving and a full description of it can be found in the " American Anglers' Book," p. 111. It exceeds somewhat the white perch in size. It bites freely at a baited hook, is a good pan fish, and well worthy, if only for its beauty, of naturalization in the eastern states. The BLACK BASS of the Lakes ( Grystes nigricans) has been naturalized in many of the lakelets of New England and New York, and might be introduced in such waters further south. These fish, some years back, made their in large numbers, apparently with the effort of passing through the locks into the canal. It is said that a herring fishery might be established here that would be worth some thousands of dollars, but for its interfering with the passage of the boats. It may be that some of them pass through the locks and spawn in the canal, and the fry pass out, thus keeping up this yearly crowd of appli- cants for admission. 18 206 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. way through the Erie Canal into the Hudson. They appear to prefer the mouths of streams entering this river, and are but seldom found in the tideway. Professor Agnel, of West Point, about nine years since, procured a stock of them from Saratoga Lake, and introduced them into Wood Lake, a beautiful sheet of water some six miles west of the Hudson. Here they thrive wonderfully, and have been taken four or five pounds in weight. The Professor, who pitches his tent every summer by his pretty lake, uses the artificial fly and his trout-rod exclusively in taking them. May his shadow never grow less, or the bass refuse to rise to his red hackle ! On a preceding page I have given an extract, which shows the progress the Cuttyhunk Club* had made towards * The Cuttyhunk Club takes its name from the island where it has been established ; the most westerly of the Elizabeth Islands, off the coast of Massachusetts. It is about four or five miles long and half as wide. This association was established here in 1864, its originators being induced hither by the fine striped bass-fishing to be found along the shores. Besides the trout and the black bass pond, the club controls by lease of land and otherwise, the shoot- ing on the island also. Originally there were twenty-five members, the number has since been increased to sixty, and the capital of the club to $25,000 ; each member contributing twenty dollars annually. The commodious and comfortable hotel of the club, with ice house, fine spring water, and other accessories, is near the beach, and A opposite some of the best stands for striped bass-fishing. tariff of hotel prices is fixed every season, and each member is allowed to invite a friend who is not a member, to accompany him and par- take of the sport. The club also, at their meeting in the month of NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 207 stocking their trout pond. The following is from the same letter : " Our bass-pond of sixty acres, and twenty feet deep in some places, adjoins that intended to be occupied by the trout, and is separated from it, by a small embankment extending across a narrow neck of land, which, in low water, is sometimes dry. Early in the spring of 1866, we put into it twenty-nine large black bass, and as many more during the summer, to make the number exceed one hun- We dred. think those we put in early spawned the same season, as a numerous progeny (about one and a half inches long) were observed by the men who had charge of the pond. The young bass are readily distinguished from the perch, which had already occupied it. I can not say how We large the bass have grown by this time. shall restrict the fishing to the fly. As regards the perch, we have no apprehension of the injury they may do the bass, but have fears that those in the smaller pond will be destructive to We the young trout. shall therefore try to seine out the perch from the latter, during the coming summer. As we do not contemplate feeding the young trout after we put them in the pond, we will rear them in troughs until autumn, by which time, we hope they will be large enough to take care of themselves, and escape any perch that may be left after dragging the pond with the seine." It will be seen by the foregoing, to what an extent the May each year, occasionally extend special invitations to brethren of the angle. Wholesome regulations prevail, and good order characterizes the assemblage of the members. 208 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. artificial propagation of trout, and the naturalizing of bass may be made to contribute to the sport of the angler. In a few years, a pond of sixty acres will afford abundant bassfishing, and one of nine acres a fair amount of trout-fishing. As the angling in both will be subjected to wholesome restrictions, the ponds will not be depleted as those have been, which are open to all fishers. The example of this club is worthy of the imitation of other associations of the kind. These fish have also been introduced into small artificial A ponds with much success. few days since (June 15th, 1868) I visited a friend in the neighborhood of Newburg, N. Y., and found his pond, about three-eighths of an acre in extent, well stocked with bass, which were a little over a year old. Although they did not rise well to the fly so early in the season, we caught enough for a mess, and found them in excellent condition. These fish had grown to the size of a half pound in about thirteen months. The margin of the pond was dotted with numerous broods of this spring's fry. The lake bass will grow to the extreme size of seven or eight pounds, though four pounds is thought to be a large fish ; one and a half or two pounds may be considered a good average. They rise at an artificial fly in July and August. They generally come with a rush, and are taken also by trolling with a gang of flies or with spinning spoon. Crickets and minnows are used in fishing at the bottom, which is generally done after the 1st of September. When hooked they leap high from the water, shaking their heads NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 209 to free themselves, and are plucky and die hard. The last Massachusetts Fish Commissioners' Report says : " In 1850, Mr. Samuel T. Tisdale, of East Wareham, succeeded, after much care, in bringing twenty-seven from Saratoga Lake, alive, to his place, where he put them in Flax Pond, close to his house. In 1851, and again in 1852, others were brought, and several of the neighboring ponds were stocked. The matter was kept secret, and a 'jubilee' of five years given to the fish at the end of which time, they were found to have peopled these ponds, and to have grown finely. So soon as this fact was known, all the neighborhood at once gave its assiduous attention to poaching, indignant that any one should be so aristocratic as to try to furnish cheap food to the community. Their efforts were so far successful as much to reduce the num- ber of the fish. " During May they come by pairs, and make a spawning- bed on a sandy bottom in from four to six feet of water. This they sweep with their tails after the manner of trout, and the male remains on guard over the spawn, and drives away the many intruders which hang about, greedy for this savory food. In June, the young recognisable by a black band across the tail are first observed, and these, by autumn, have grown to a length of three to four inches. At one year old, they weigh from i to pound, and in- crease about pound yearly, till they arrive at 6 pounds, according to food and water. They are in prime condition in August and. September, but in winter are black and lean. The objection in certain cases to this species, is its great 18* o 210 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. voraciousness. It destroys almost everything before it, except the perch, and even kills out pickerel by devouring the young. But in ponds already infested with pickerel and abounding in ' shiners/ it may be introduced with much profit, because it replaces bad fish by good. It should be carefully excluded, however, from all waters that contain trout, white fish or other valuable species, and from ponds communicating with such waters, for it is a most restless and pushing robber, eagerly searching and follow- ing the inlets and outlets of its pond. Of this propensity the Brookline reservoir gives the most curious instance. Nine black bass of 2j to 3 pounds were put there in July^ 1862. Since then, in the examination of the water-pipes leading from this reservoir to Long Pond, these fishes have been found in considerable numbers and of large size ; and, moreover, either by their young or their eggs, they have penetrated the screen at the mouth of the pipe itself!* So these black bass, apparently impelled by no other feel- ing than that of restlessness, performed an underground journey of fifteen miles, in a brick aqueduct whose greatest diameter was six feet !" "f How easy it would be to introduce these bass into ponds where pike have exterminated the more valuable trout, or * Communication from Mr. John H. Thorndike, President of the Water Board. f Arrangements have been made with Mr. Tisdale to stock several other ponds, and the work is already hegun. The best time to move the live fish is in the cool weather of late autumn or of early spring. NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 211 i where only yellow perch, bull pouts, and worthless species are found. The latter would afford food for the new comers. The BLACK BASS, of the West and South (Grystes sal moides). There are several varieties of this fish in the waters of the Atlantic states, from the Dismal Swamp and James river to Cape Florida. They abound also in the rivers and bayous communicating with the Gulf of Mexico on both sides of the Mississippi, and are found in all of the waters of the west, thence up to Minnesota with its nu- merous lakes. In the northern part of that state, lakes in close proximity are inhabited, one it may be with bass, and the other with white fish ; the former discharging into the head-waters of the Mississippi, and the latter into streams flowing north towards Hudson's Bay. Occasionally, though, the white fish are found on the southern watershed. This species is a more shapely fish than the bass of our northern lakes, resembling it, however, in its habits and its game qualities. The first figure on the engraving at the head of this chapter is a correct picture of this fish. The following account of its introduction into the Potomac was sent to me by my esteemed friend, Dr. Charles D. Meigs, of this city, two or three years ago : " About thirteen years since, a son of Mr. Stabler, at that time a conductor on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, having caught fifteen or twenty pounds of black bass in Wheeling creek, secured them in a bag-net, and, putting them into a locomotive tender's tank, carried them safely to Cumberland, and turned them into the Potomac, all of whose 212 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. tributaries, down to the Great Falls, are now well stocked with them. They have multiplied exceedingly, and are said to grow to from six to eight pounds. M. desires me to tell you this. By this act of young Mr. Stabler, a region some 180 miles in length has been abundantly stocked with a large fish, good for food and sport." Mr. Charles H. Wight, of Baltimore, who wrote me about three years ago in reference to stocking the Monocacy and Gunpowder rivers, in Maryland, with this fish, gave me the following score of catches on the Potomac in the summer of 1865 : 2 rods. 3" 8 hours' fishing, 1251bs. 9" " 3261bs. Largest fish 4f Ibs. " " 51bs. lOoz. I infer, from Mr. Wight's letter, that they were taken with artificial flies in the neighborhood of Williamsport, above Harper's Ferry. It is said that this fish does not go below the Great Falls of the Potomac, which are about twenty-five miles above Washington. On the Gulf coast it is sometimes taken on the same feeding-grounds at the mouths of rivers, in company with the sheep's-head, attracted doubtless by the abundant supply of Crustacea found there. The different levels made by damming the Schuylkill from Reading down to Fairmount could be stocked with this valuable fish as easily, and in the same manner, as the Potomac was by Mr. Stabler. The Schuylkill is now des- titute of any valuable species, except cat-fish ; and our city authorities could have them transported from Pittsburgh or the Monongahela to the river bordering on Fairmount NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 213 Park, in the same way that they were taken from the Ohio A to Cumberland. prohibition to catching them for a few years would make them abundant, and afford angling where there is none at present. The southern habitat of this bass makes it more sus- ceptible of naturalization in this and states south of us, than the northern species would likely prove. They have been taken from the James river and naturalized in mill- ponds in the neighborhood of Fredericksburg and Warrenton, Va. In open, unshaded mill-ponds, they assume a brighter vesture than their ancestors had at the time of transplanting them. I have seen fish of four pounds taken that were quite silvery on their sides. The small yellow-bellied bass, and the sun-fish (Pomotis vulgaris), should be introduced into ponds inhabited by the larger fresh -water bass, as they furnish an infinite source of amusement to juvenile anglers, and are well worthy of the frying-pan after the month of June. No species of bass, or of the perch family, however, should be put into waters where the more valuable species, as trout, white-fish, and salmon, are intended to be cultivated. The smaller perches are as destructive of the ova and fry of trout as the larger bass would doubtless prove to the young of white-fish and salmon. SILURID.E. This family includes the different catfishes, or bullpouts, as they are termed in the Eastern States. The larger species found in the western rivers grow to the size of a 214 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. hundred and fifty pounds. I have seen them cut trans- versely into steaks and I have heard the music of the frying-pan, and have smelt them as they were fried, but never had the curiosity to taste of them ; they are coarse grained and, it is said, are not palatable. There is a species, the yellow catfish, found in ponds and streams not communicating with tidal waters, as well as the ditches and creeks which do. These are inferior to the white or blue forked-tail catfish, whose more natural habitat is tide and brackish water. The latter, however, if prevented from their run to tidal rivers, become permanent above them, as they have in the Schuylkill above the Fairmount dam. If these smaller species were not so com- mon they would be more generally esteemed. These are far better fish for the pan ; their flesh is firm and sweet, and resembles that of the trout or the breast of a young chicken, more than the flesh of any other fish. " Catfish and coffee," at the Falls of Schuylkill, was formerly, and, to some extent, is still an "institution;" and a catfish supper with et ceteras there, was a thing " not to be sneezed at." In Philadelphia they are a favorite dish. The shrill cry of " buy any catfish," sometimes awakens the slumberer at early morn j or the wife, or man of the house, or servant returns from market with bunches of catfish, denuded and beheaded. The " catties" are dipped in raw egg, rolled in corn-meal or grated cracker, a few turns are given in the fizzing, spitting lard of the well-heated frying-pan, and in a NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 215 trice they are served on hot plates with the accompaniment of coffee, and one's breakfast is complete. Much of the gluten and fat which makes fish palatable, is between the skin and the flesh, and in the skin itself; thus any fish suffers in edibility by stripping it. There is a way of cooking catfish, which I think had its origin with the negroes in lower Virginia and Maryland ; it is vastly superior to a chowder or a "cubrion." The fish are merely scraped as one would a trout, and not divested of heads or skins, and are stewed (not too much) with just enough water to cover them. Flitch of bacon with onions or pot-herbs are put in for seasoning, and unskimmed milk or cream is added when the dish is half cooked. Large white catfish, which sometimes grow to the size of two or three pounds, thus treated, are very fine. Persons who have small ponds, or large either, if the water is too warm for trout, should by all means cultivate A catfish. pond of half an acre, or even of less size, if well stocked, will supply two or three messes a week for a good- sized family. These fish, though mostly herbivorous, will A eat almost anything. muddy or grassy pond is particu- larly adapted to them. Although they will take a small fish if presented as a bait, they are harmless to other spe- cies, and without detriment to either, can be put into ponds with bass. In transporting catfish they should not be crowded, as they are apt to injure each other with their sharp spines. A better way, if the distance is not over a day's travel, is to saturate an old carpet, and lay it in the bottom of a 216 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. spring-wagon, then place on the carpet as many fish as it will accommodate without finning each other. They should then be covered with another carpet or blankets dripping wet, on which is placed another layer of fish, and so on until five hundred or even a thousand are so packed. For the information of those who live near Philadelphia, I would say, that an old man known as " Toney," and his partner, young Krumbar, who live in the small street nearest the Schuylkill between Race and Vine, and at the corner of a court running towards the river, will supply live catfish to those who want them. These men keep them in live boxes and supply them at the moderate price of a dollar and fifty cents per hundred. The Acclimatization Society of England have gone to a large expenditure of time, labor, and money to introduce into their waters a large species (I believe the only one of this family in Europe), silurus giants, or Sheat fish, bring- ing it over land from the Argisch, a tributary of the Danube, the distance of eighteen hundred miles. It is said that this fish has attained the size of fifty-four pounds in four years, and in extreme cases has weighed as much as A two hundred pounds. drawing of this fish shows a wide dissimilarity to our Siluroids; its fins having no sharp spines, the dorsal, anal, and caudal being continuous and joining, as is the case with the eel. Mr. Francis Francis, the piscicultural director of the English Acclimatization So- ciety, says : " One of the greatest wants felt in this coun- try (England) has been a good pond or lake fish that might be turned to actual account, in order that the huge NATURALIZATION OF FISHES. 217 wastes of water with which our islands abound might be turned to actual account. This want the silurus seems likely to meet." The fish in question is described as savagely predatory ; in view of which fact, and considering our smaller species of catfish the opposite, as well as excellent eating, and easily naturalized, I have suggested to Mr. Francis the benefit* to be derived from its acclimation in such waters as the society he represents wishes to hring into use. Mr. Francis was so taken with the idea that he communicated it to the " Field," which published the letter suggesting the introduction of the catfish. The matter has created some interest with those who are interested in the acclimatization of new species, and may lead to favorable results. CYPRINID^!. Of this family we have many native species, from the bulky Buffalo fish to the little roach and redfin of our small brooks ; all of them are coarse or insipid, and in this country are eaten only when other fish cannot be had. In China, however, they are cultivated as they are in Ger- many. The English Carp; it is said, unless taken from lively rivers is not a good fish. What the carp of the Romans (who grew them to a prodigious size), was as to edibility, it is hard to infer. They doubtless considered them a luxury. After a long abstinence from piscine food, I have on some occasions partaken of broiled suckers with some relish when taken from cold streams. 19 218 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. ESOCID.E. The various species of the pike family are not herbivo- rous, insectivorous, or omnivorous, but simply piscivorous, subsisting entirely on fish with, perhaps, the exception of an occasional frog. If one wishes to exterminate the trout of some pretty mountain lake or a pond let him introduce any kind of pike. " Verbum sat." CULTURE OP EELS. 219 CHAPTER VIII. CULTURE OF EELS. Probability of eels being of sufficient importance to be cultivated. General remarks on eels. Eel culture at Comacchio. OWING to the rapid diminution and enhanced price of the better kinds of fish, it is not improbable that eels may at some future day be of sufficient importance to be cultivated. At present the prejudice existing against them on account of their serpent-like form, and the, as yet, fair supply of scale-fish in our markets, cause them to be underrated. In Europe they are thought worthy of cultivation, as is attested by the extensive eel fisheries at Comacchio, in Italy. In most Roman Catholic countries they form a large portion of fish-food, which is necessarily consumed on account of the many fast days. To those who can divest themselves of prejudice, there are few more palatable or more nutritious fishes than the eel. As we have no occasion to refer to the family of lam- preys (Petromyzontidse), or the electric eels (Gymnotidse), we will take a cursory view of those which are generally eaten (MursenidaR). These are so abundant in autumn, when they are taken in all of our streams as they return to hybernate in salt water, as not to be appreciated. The eel at one time was considered hermaphrodite, because it is never found with spawn. After the fact was 220 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. established in natural history that no vertebrate animal could be hermaphrodite, it was thought, from the absence of spawn, to be viviparous j and a doubt still exists whether it is, or oviparous, as most fishes are. As it reproduces after its autumnal descent to salt water, it is not probable that the question will soon be decided. The ova, if it exists during its stay in fresh water, is so small that it has never been observed. There may be species of Anguilla inhabiting salt water exclusively, and others ascending fresh rivers in spring and returning in autumn. Or a large portion of one species may be migratory, and another por- tion live entirely in salt water. The eel fry ascend the rivers of this latitude in April and May, and by fall have acquired a weight varying from a quarter to a half pound. Some remain permanently in fresh water, growing to a very large size, weighing even as much as ten pounds, and in some cases beyond that weight. These, it is reasonable to suppose, do not reproduce. The following account of the eel fisheries at Comacchio, taken from the " Harvest of the Sea," is given for the novelty that such an enterprise would be in this country. It is suggestive of what might be done on suitable parts of our coast at some future day : " Long before the organization of the Dutch fisheries there existed a quaint colony of Italian fisher people on the borders of a more poetic water than the Zuyder Zee. I allude to the eel-breeders of Comacchio, on the Adriatic. This particular fishing industry is of very considerable antiquity, as we have well-authenticated statistics of its CULTURE OF EELS. 221 produce, extending back over three centuries. The lagoons of Comacchio afford a curious example of what may be done by design and labor. This place was at one time a great unproductive swamp, about one hundred and forty miles in circumference, accessible to the waves of the sea, where eels, leeches, and the other inhabitants of such watery regions, sported about unmolested by the hand of man and its inhabitants the descendants of those who ; first populated its various islands isolated from the sur- rounding civilization, and devoid of ambition, have long been contented with their obscure lot, and have even re* mained to this day without establishing any direct commu- nication with surrounding countries. " The precise date at which the great lagoon of Comae* chio was formed into a fish-pond is not known, but so early as the year 1229, the inhabitants of the place a commu- nity of fishers as quaint, superstitious, and peculiar as those of Buckie, on the Moray Firth, or any other ancient Scot- tish fishing port proclaimed Prince Azzo d'Este Lord of Comacchio ; and from the time of this appointment the place grew in prosperity, and the fisheries from that date began to assume an organization and design which had not before that time been their characteristic. The waters of the lagoon were dyked out from those of the Adriatic, and a series of canals and pools were formed suitable for the requirements of the peculiar fishery carried on at the place, all of which operations were greatly facilitated by the Reno and Volano mouths of the Po, forming the side boundaries of the great swamp; and, us a chief feature of the place, 19* 222 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. the marvellous fish labyrinth celebrated by Tasso still exists. Without being technical, we may state that the principal entrances to the various divisions of the great pond and it is divided into a great many stations are A from the two rivers. number of these entrances have been constructed in the natural embankments which dyke out the waters of the lagoon. Bridges have also been built over all these trenches by the munificence of various popes, and very strong flood-gates, worked by a crank and screw, are attached to each, so as to regulate the migration of the fish and the entrance and exit of the A waters. very minute account of all the varied hydraulic apparatus of Comacchio would only weary the reader ; but I may state generally, and I speak on the authority of M. Coste, that these flood-gates place at the service of the fishcultivators about twenty currents, which allow the salt waters of the lagoon to mingle with the fresh waters of the river. Then, again, the waters of the Adriatic are ad- mitted to the lagoon by means of the Grand Palotta Canal, which extends from the port of Magnavacca right through the great body of the waters, with branches stretching to the chief fishing-stations which dot the surface of this inland sea, so that there are about a hundred mouths always ready to vomit into the lagoon the salt water of the Adriatic. " The entire industry of this unique place is founded on a knowledge of the natural history of the particular fish which is so largely cultivated there viz., the eel. Being a migratory fish, the eel is admirably adapted for cultiva- CULTURE OF EELS. 223 tion, and being also very prolific and of tolerably rapid growth, it can be speedily turned into a source of great profit. About the end of the sixteenth century we know that the annual income derived from eel-breeding in the lagoons was close upon 12,000 a very large sum of money at that period. No recent statistics have been made public as to the money derived from the eels of Comacchio, but I have reason to know that the sum has not in any sense diminished during late years. ''The inhabitants of Comacchio seem to have a very correct idea of the natural history of this rather mysterious fish. They know exactly the time when the animal breeds, which, as well as the question how it breeds, has in Britain been long a source of controversy, as I have already shown ; and these shrewd people know very well when the fry may be expected to leave the sea and perform their montee. They can measure the numbers, or rather estimate the quantity, of young fish as they ascend into the lagoon, and consequently are in a position to know what the produce will eventually be, as also the amount of food necessary to be provided, for the fish-farmers of Comacchio do not expect to fatten their animals out of nothing. However, they go about this in a very economic way, for the same water that grows the fish also grows the food on which they are fed. This is chiefly the aquadelle, a tiny little fish which is contained in the lakes in great numbers, and which, in its turn, finds food in the insect and vegetable world of the lagoons. Other fish are bred as well as the eel viz., mullet, plaice, &c. On the 2d day of February the year 224 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. of Comacchio may be said to begin, for at that time the montee commences, when may be seen ascending up the Reno and Volano mouths of the Po from the Adriatic a great series of wisps, apparently composed of threads, but in reality young eels ; and as soon as one lot enters, the rest, with a sheeplike instinct, follow their leader, and hundreds of thousands pass annually from the sea to the waters of the lagoon, which can be so regulated as in places to be either salt or fresh, as required. Various operations connected with the working of the fisheries keep the people in employment from the time the entrance-sluices are closed, at the end of April, till the commencement of the great harvest of eel-culture, which lasts from the beginning of August till December." CULTURE OF OYSTERS. 225 CHAPTER IX. CULTURE OF OYSTERS. The Oyster. An hermaphrodite. Its fecundity. Its spawn or "spat," and its manner of incubation. Emission of the spat, and its destruction by marine animals Importance of its finding something to fasten to. Places favorable to its growth. Transportation of seed oysters to the north. Growth of the young oyster. Chief object in the culture of oysters. Oyster Culture at Fusaro. Its antiquity. Its progress in France at the Bay of St. Brieuc and the Island of Ree. English and French oysters. Decrease of oysters in Eastern States. Governor Wise's estimate of the area and value of oyster-beds in Virginia. THE oyster being hermaphrodite, reproduces of itself. There are different opinions concerning its fecundity. Some writers state the number of young produced by a single oyster at half a million, others at three millions. As the produce of a large oyster is more numerous than a- small one, either may approximate the truth. On the coast of England the embryonic oysters, in mass, are termed " spat." The formation commences in the spring and through all " the months without an R," the spat is maturing or being ejected. This, like other bivalves, incubates its ova or seed within the folds of its mantle and leaflets of its lungs. The seed are contained in the mucous substance which we observe when they are in what is called the "milky state." This mass of spawn loses its P 226 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. fluidity to a great extent as the time of its emission approaches, and is ejected for a considerable time during the summer. The spat comes forth like mist, and is dis- sipated at once ; each little oyster, although a microscopic mite, perfect in itself. It rises to the surface at first, the same apparatus by which it attaches itself to anything at a later period now acting as a little float. After some hours, its specific gravity increasing, it gradually sinks, being car- ried in the mean time by wind and tide until an opportu- nity is afforded for attaching itself to something. In this interim it is devoured by fish and Crustacea, and as it set- tles to the bottom by its own species and other molluscs. Quiet creeks and bays, therefore, without strong tides, and protected from high winds by highlands or forests, are favorable to the preservation and permanent location of young oysters. To such places in the Chesapeake and other southern bays our northern oyster-growers resort for seed oysters, which they plant in favorable locations convenient to large cities where they are sold. I have seen a good-sized sloop or schooner, which had anchored at high tide on a bank of seed oysters in the Curratoma creek, on the Chesapeake, loaded in a day or two when she was left high and dry, by shovelling them in. European writers say that the oyster commences to reproduce when it is three years old, it may earlier in our waters. The young on the coast of England when two weeks old are about the size of mustard seed; at three months old as large as peas; at five months the size of one's little finger nail ; at eight months rather larger than the CULTURE OF OYSTERS. 227 thumb nail and at twelve months old the size of a silver ; half dollar. In oyster culture, to arrest the drifting spat is the chief object; therefore, walls of stone or turf, hurdles of brush, faggots, and lines or enclosures of posts, are used for the purpose. When the natural drift does not bring the young oysters in contact with such appliances, mature oysters are laid so that their spat may lodge against or on them. Fifteen years ago there was scarcely an oyster-bed of native growth in France, all having been so over-dredged as to exhaust them, when M. Coste, by direction of the government, set about restoring them and promoting their culture. In his investigations he visited Lake Fusaro. The oyster-beds here are of ancient celebrity. In past centuries the luxurious Italians built their villas by this lake to enjoy the salt-water bathing and partake of its bivalves. The Lucrine Lake, in its vicinity, is where Sergius Grata inaugurated oyster culture. At Fusaro the same mode of culture has prevailed since the time of that princely oysterman. The oysters are laid down on mounds of stone and the surrounding enclosures of posts arrest the spat. Faggots also are suspended for the same purpose from chains or strong ropes, which stretch from post to post in the lake. Following this mode in France, the old oyster-beds in the Bay of St. Brieuc were renewed by laying down about three millions of mature oysters, and sinking faggots and constructing parallel banks. In less than six months the 228 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. old shells on the heds and the faggots and banks were covered with minute oysters. On the Island of Ree this improved mode of culture was commenced a year before Mr. Coste's experiments were under way in the Bay of St. Brieuc, and in 1864, according to Galignani's Messenger, seventy-two millions of oysters were produced, four thousand parks and claires being used in growing them. Seven thousand of the inhabitants, many of them coming from the interior of the island, were soon engaged in the occupation. The whole thing on the Island of Ree was initiated by a shrewd stone-mason, bearing the singular name of Beef. Enclos- ing a small portion of the shore with a rough dyke eighteen inches in height, and strewing some large stones over the area, he planted a few bushels of oysters. While attending to his proper avocation his little oyster farm was progressing, and he was able to sell thirty dollars worth of the young from his stock the first year. By doubling the size of his enclosure he doubled his sales the following season, and in four years his income from this source amounted to two hundred dollars. Of course his neighbors were not slow in profiting by his example. The consequence has been that the shore, productive in oysters many years ago, but which had become almost worthless from an accumulation of mud, was made to produce many fold beyond the yield it had given in its palmy days of old. On the Island of Jersey and in many places along the English coast, where oysters had been grown for many years for the London and other large markets, they are now CULTURE OF OYSTERS. 229 resorting to the same mode of securing the spat which the French have adopted. I have the disposition to pursue this subject, and would but for the limited space afforded. It will, however, be seen from this short notice of oyster culture that any person having command of a small portion of shore on salt water can not only grow oysters, but stock his beds and keep up a succession of crops without being under the necessity of procuring seed from a distance. A young friend, with whom I was conversing a few evenings since, gave me an account of his visit to Lake Fusaro, where he had partaken of its oysters. To procure them a stake was pulled up by his attendant, and as many as he wanted taken off and the stake replaced. This lake is on classic ground, it is the Avernus of Virgil. It occupies the bed of an extinct volcano, and is a mile or so in extent. The youthful traveller alluded to, says that the French and English oysters are very small and insipid compared with ours, the size generally not larger than a Spanish dollar. That the larger ones are generally coppery in taste. That the average size is small is evident from their computing fifteen hundred to a bushel; or, as Mr. Francis Francis lately remarked in a letter, " six to the mouthful." Most persons have observed the aptness of the young oyster to cling to anything with which they come in contact. The wharves of some of the cities of our southern seaboard, or walls standing in the water, are frequently covered. So also are logs and brush, and even the pendant 20 230 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. boughs of trees. These, however, are generally worthless. The oyster must be furnished on its beds with the food required to secure flavor and fatness. Many of the dwellers on the brackish waters of the south have their family oyster-beds; a place where fresh water enters is preferred. Our cultivation of oysters has extended no further than planting them in favorable locations, some of which are known for the rapid growth they give, others for the fine flavor they impart to the oyster. Many of our fine oysterbeds in Long Island Sound and to the eastward have been exhausted, but as yet there is not much apprehension of the supply being short of the demand. Henry A. Wise, Esq., when governor of Virginia, in one of his messages, estimated the area of oyster-beds in that state at 1,680,000 acres, containing about 784,000,000 of bushels. In proposing a tax of three cents on each bushel taken, he estimated the revenue from that source at $480,000. If the waters of the state of Virginia contain 784.000,000 of bushels, what must be the total produce of all of our states bordering on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico ? APPENDIX. i. NATURAL FOOD OF TROUT. THE following, by Mr. Francis Francis, on the natural food of trout in ponds, lakes, and streams, offers some valuable suggestions to those who have preserved waters : " There is not an insect or small reptile that inhabits the soil beneath us, the air above us, or the waters around us, that is not food for fishes in a greater or less degree. Worms of all kinds, flies of all kinds, grubs and larvae of all kinds, cockchafers, crickets, leeches, snails, humblebees, young birds, mice, rats, frogs, beetles, all serve the turn of one fish or another, and so in turn help to produce food for man. Black beetles, for example, often looked on as a nuisance in houses, are caviare to the trout; and I have seen two or three trout devour a panful of them with the greatest avidity. Nay, I have seen a wary old sixpound stream trout, that had been tempted with every conceivable variety of bait, succumb to the temptation of a black beetle. Small frogs, just emerged from tadpoleism, they rejoice in exceedingly j and I have even seen them take young toads, though some do repudiate the taste on the trout's part. Nothing living comes amiss, but doubtless some kinds of food agree with them far better than others. But we know very little on this branch of the (231) 232 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. subject. It is dreamland to us, with a very little ascer- tained waking reality. What do we know even of the various breeds of the same species of fish, save the bare fact of their existence ? What do we know of the food and conditions most favorable to them? Consider the trout. Can any fish display greater diversity or variety of size and value than trout? And how do we account for it ? " Trout in one stream will be much larger, firmer, red- der, and better shaped than in others. This may, in a measure, be owing to the greater abundance of food; but I have every reason to believe that it proceeds quite as much from the kind of food that they are enabled to obtain. In some rivers and lakes we find the trout large, handsome, red, and vigorous fish ; in others, we find them small and meagre ; nay, even in the same lake the fish will be in- fluenced in a strange way by locality, so much so that the very breed even appears to be different. It would seem difficult to account for this peculiarity upon any other hypothesis than that of food and the nature of the water and soil around them, and yet the fish appear to be a totally different breed; and it certainly appears possible that the character of the fish may have changed by de- grees, through successive generations, and owing to being bred and fed in a different manner from the other fish. I have placed trout from one stream into another, and after years could very easily distinguish them from their compeers of the stream. But it is doubtful if their progeny would show and retain their special characteristics, though if they interbreed with the fish of the stream, as they would be pretty sure to, the breed might possibly be improved by the infusion of fresh blood. " Few experiments of any note have been tried in the feeding of fish, this being as yet almost untrodden ground ; APPENDIX. 233 but I once heard of an experiment being tried in the following manner : Equal numbers of trout were confined for a certain time by gratings to three several portions of the same stream. The fish in one of the divisions were fed entirely upon flies ; in another, upon minnows ; and in the third, upon worms. At the end of a certain period, those which had been fed on flies were the heaviest and in the best condition ; those fed on minnows occupied the second place ; while those fed on worms were in much the worst order of the three. The probability is, that had another pen been set off, and the fish fed with a mixture of all three species of food, the fish in it would have far exceeded any of the others in weight and condition. " Some rivers notoriously produce larger trout than others, although the character of the soil they flow through may to all appearance be very similar. I will instance two, both of which are tributaries of the Thames the Chess, a branch of the Buckinghamshire Colne ; and the Wick, a little stream running through High Wycombe. I select these two streams, because they are only some ten or twelve miles from each other, and because they are as nearly as possible of a size. Now, it is generally supposed that the very best and most fattening food provided by Nature for the trout is the may-fly, or green-drake. This fly abounds in profusion on the Chess ; it is rarely if ever seen on the Wick in fact, it may be said not to exist there. The min- now, likewise supposed to be most excellent and nourishing food for the trout, is also a stranger to the Wick ; or if it exists there, is not found in any considerable number. Sticklebacks and miller's thumbs are found in places, though they do not abound in all parts of the stream. The caddis, or case grub of the smaller flies, however, is very abundant; and in some of the hatch-holes there are a considerable quantity of leeches. 20* 234 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. " On the Chess a trout of two pounds would be a very fine one, the fish averaging from half a pound to a pound and a quarter. On the Wick it would be an ordinary fish ; indeed, they are not considered fair takeable fish under a pound and a half. They are often caught of four and five pounds, and I have known them to run up to seven or eight or even ten pounds ; and this in a small stream, little more than a good-sized brook, is a most astonishing size ; for not only do these fish acquire this unusual weight, but they arrive at it very rapidly indeed. I have had many opportunities of knowing how they will increase under favorable circumstances, as one of the fisheries on the stream belonging to a friend of mine was on one or two occasions almost destroyed by bleach and tar water some forty or fifty brace of fish being all that were saved : none of them were over two pounds, and yet, in two years, many of them had grown to six and seven pounds' weight.* "Taking the Wycombe fish as a breed, I may say that they are the heaviest and thickest fish, for their length, it has ever been my lot to see ; while the color of the flesh of a good fish, instead of the ordinary pale pink of a really well-conditioned trout, is often of a deep red, much redder, indeed, than that of salmon. On the other hand, the Chess fish are not particularly handsome, shapely, or well colored. Here is a point well worthy the consideration of those who wish to take up the science of pisciculture. What par- ticular species of food can it be which not only makes up for the total absence of the may-fly and minnow, but so feeds the fish in this admirable little stream, that there is no river, large or small, which I have ever seen in all Eng- * Since this was written, I regret to say that again have the whole of his fish been destroyed by filth sent down from above. F. F., 1864. APPENDIX. 235 land, can for its size equal it in production ? What, then, can be the particular food that fattens them so rapidly ? " My own impression is, that the fresh-water gammari, or pulex, to which I have previously referred, have not a little to do with it, for these insects abound in this stream even to profusion to a greater extent, indeed, than I have ever found them in any other brook. The trout feed upon them voraciously j and it is a very common thing to find in the trout a mass of these insects, half digested, and as large as a filbert. I have seen the trout picking them off the walls, which pen the stream in some places, as rapidly as a child would pick blackberries from a hedge ; and I am induced to think that this insect has, as I have said, much to do with the fineness of the fish ; and the more so, because, wherever I have found it to exist in any quantity, I have invariably observed that the trout are of fine size, and in unusually good condition.* * " These insects of course thrive better in sluggish than in rapid water, though they do well enough in either when there are weeds. They are peculiarly well adapted for lakes ; and were I owner of a lake, I would leave no stone unturned to introduce them in large numbers. They feed upon almost anything, and are the scavengers of the water. They are very fond of the large fresh-water mussel, and destroy and cat them in large numbers. These, which are easily introduced, should be as food for the trout food. Where the streams are too rapid for the plentiful production of the gammari, it would be by no means a bad plan to make here and there (where the situation of the soil and the banks suited such a plan) small shallow ponds, supplied with water by means of a small pipe, and having an exit to the stream. In these the requisite kind of weeds might be planted, a stock of these little insects turned in, and some kind of offal or other food occasionally being cast to them, and the insects left to thrive and increase. They would of their own accord miike their way into the stream, where they would afford excellent food for the trout. Other kinds of insects might be also placed in such food-breeding ponds, where they might propagate and multiply 236 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. " In lakes, also, it is a very common thing to find the trout in one lake large, bright, and well fed, and in another, very similar in appearance, and perhaps only a bare halfmile distant from the other, they will be long, black, and lean, with heads out of all proportion to the thickness of the body. In another, probably but a similar distance from the first two, the trout will be abundant, but very small, though. bright and well colored. These varieties, I have every reason to believe, are caused partly by a difference of water, produced by the absence or presence of certain plants, these of course giving a difference of food. To exemplify this : I remember some years since, while fishing in a wild part of Donegal, near the little village of Ardara, coming upon a cluster of small lakes. The trout in some of these lakes were small, bright,' and very plentiful ; in others, they were of a good size, but not handsome. But in one of the lakes, a small one a mere pool, of perhaps a couple or three acres in extent my attendant informed me that the trout, though of a dark color, owing to the peat color and depth of the water, were large and well-shaped, and of good flavor, often running up to five and six, and even seven or eight pounds' weight. But the lake was what is termed among anglers ' a sulky lake,' that is, the fish very rarely rose well at the fly, and probably it might be fished a dozen times without producing a single fish, though there were times and days, if the angler chanced to hit upon them, when very good fishing might be had, and when the lake appeared alive with fish. I fished the pool, however, and had the good fortune, by sinking the fly, to take one in safety. By such a method as this almost any amount of the food best suited to the trout might no doubt easily be produced. For if we increase the stock of Jish, we must, of course, if their size and weight is to be kept up, (/row food for them somehow, and this seems not to be a very difficult plan." APPENDIX. 237 of the trout, a strong, well-shaped fish, though somewhat We dark in color, and of two pounds' weight. also caught specimens of the fish in the other lakes, and the difference between the fish I have already mentioned. While fishing the small lake I accidentally allowed my fly to sink to the bottom, and on pulling it up again with some difficulty I brought up a large piece of a thick moss-like green weed, with which the bottom of the pool appeared to abound. On examining this weed more closely, I found it swarming with a variety of insects, chiefly water-snails, the small Crustacea that inhabit fresh water, and large quantities of the caddis of some considerable fly. The abundance of food thus found at the bottom of the lake fully accounted not only for the large size and good condition of the fish, but also for its being a sulky lake, or for the trout not pay- ing much attention to the flies upon the surface of the water. For they had no difficulty in procuring any quan- tity of food they needed at the bottom, without swimming hither and thither to seek it, or giving themselves the trouble to come to the top. Colonel Whyte also mentioned a fact somewhat of this nature, some time since, in the ' Field.' He related, that wishing to improve the size and condition of his fish in a small lake, he cast into it a bushel of the small Crustacea, which are often found on water- weeds. These increased rapidily, and as they did -so his trout increased in size and improved in condition wonder- fully; but it is also fair to say, that they became much shyer of rising to the fly. Probably the reason why the fish sometimes rise well to flies, and not at others, in lakes like those of Donegal (which are by no means few), is owing to the fact that the abundance of caddis at the bot- tom may be undergoing some transformation, into flies per- haps, which ascend rapidly to the top of the water, and the trout are thus led in pursuit of them to the top of the water, 238 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. where the insects rest, and are easily captured. If anglers, being aware of this fact, made some little study of entomology, so far as to know about the time-when these insects undergo their transformations, they might not be induced to seek such lakes so often in vain. In the instance I have noted the lake is deep, and the water dark ; and the fish at the bottom, engaged with ground food, do not see the flies at the top. " In the great Irish lakes, as Lough Erne, Lough Arrow, the Westmeath lakes, and others, the large trout which in- habit these lakes never come to the surface in any number, save at the rise of the may-fly. In a good fly season they rise with great freedom, and wonderful takes are made ; at other times they can only, save at rare intervals, be picked up by spinning. Of course I am not referring to the small things that get on the shallows, but to the sly old fellows who scorn a midge-fly. On the Thames, also, the large Thames trout are always more upon the rise and on the lookout for flies when the big stone-fly (which is a perfect monster on the Thames), puts in an appearance in April, or when the few green drakes that are found in it show themselves. It is not to be supposed that these large fish will take notice of anything but large flies, because it would take myriads of the smaller ones to make a meal for them ; and therefore it should be the aim of the pisciculturist to increase, by every means in his power, by the importation of larvae, &c., the larger flies, if he desires to improve the fly-fishing in any lake or river. "Again, I will instance the fish in Loch Leven, which grow to a fine size, and are almost always in superb con- dition. The bottom of the lake, in places, is grown over with a peculiar weed ; in this is found a great variety of insects, chiefly Crustacea, as small snails of various sorts : the lake also abounds in the more minute entomostracese. APPENDIX. 23S Large quantities of both are often found in the stomachs of the trout when taken. Here sport with the fly is generally good, because the lake is shallow and clear, and the fish see the fly well. In other lakes again, where these species of weeds, which form the harbor and subsistence of these insects, are wanting, it will usually be found that the trout are small, or, if large, ill-fed and meagre. I know also a small lake in Wales, where the fish never take a fly until after dark, when fish from two to three pounds' weight (an unusual size for Wales) may be taken. This lake abounds in leeches, and the trout are very fine in it. A quarter of a mile off is a similar lake, in which trout do not thrive at all, and, indeed, are seldom found; while about a mile from it are one or two small lakes, in which the trout do not average three ounces. And yet the char- acter of the lakes, and the soil in and about all of them, are apparently precisely similar. " Yet one more instance I must select, to show the changeable and contrary habits of fish. In a large millpool, belonging to a friend at Alton, are some wonderfully fine trout, the trout running from two to twelve pounds. To take trout of five and six pounds with the fly, and to hook them of even larger size, is not at all uncommon. Last season (the summer of '64) I took four fish in two evenings, which together weighed close upon seventeen pounds, and magnificent fish they were. Yet the fish in the stream that feeds the pool seldom get beyond two pounds, or thereabouts, in weight; of course there is a great deal of food in the pool, mainly consisting of watersnails and sticklebacks. Some years the fish run very freely at the minnow, and do not notice the fly much, but in other years the minnow is at a discount, and the fly at a premium. I have never seen any very large flies in the pool, yet the flies the fish take are usually large palmers 240 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. like nothing, I should think, which they can be in the habit of seeing. This case differs entirely from any I have remarked elsewhere, and it is to me as yet, I confess, a A piscatorial puzzle. close analysis of the contents of the pond, as concerns insects and weeds, would no doubt throw some light on this interesting fact, which I hope some day to be able to make, as it appears to combine the best sport and the largest fish which is precisely the point we desire to arrive at. " It cannot be doubted that the condition and size of trout, as well as other fish, depend almost wholly upon the supply of food, and I think I have shown that the particular kinds of food are also a great desideratum. Now, it being known that particular kinds of weed are favorable to the production of certain species of insects, what can be easier when the soil is favorable to such a measure than to transplant a sufficient quantity of these weeds, and the larvae of the insects which will almost always be found to abound in them, from one lake and from one stream to another? For example, with respect to the gammari so often noted, what could be easier than to transplant weed ? This would serve as food for the large fresh-water mussel found in almost all waters, and it would serve as food for the gammari, which in turn would serve as food for the fishes. It may be said, with regard to some lakes and streams, that they are so gravelly and rocky, that the weeds would hardly thrive in them; but it is seldom indeed that some nooks and corners do not exist, in or about the banks of lakes and streams, where there may be found sufficient soil, which, with a slight admixture of the natural soil, and a judicious planting of these weeds, may not be made to grow them to some small extent; and the weeds, once introduced, will gradually increase year by year, forming their own soil, and naturally producing those requsites which are the most APPENDIX. 241 favorable to their production. Of course judgment must be exercised in carrying out such experiments, quite as much as would be exercised in the introduction or culti- We vation of a new food-producing plant in agriculture. acclimatize every species of agricultural 'plant, and examine its qualities and capabilities, for cattle, or for ourselves; we study the soil and manure suited to it, &c., &c. ; we have shows and prizes for the best specimens of agricul- tural productions, and thousands of persons assemble to note and study them ; but who ever thinks of acclimatizing an apparently worthless water-weed ?" II. MESSRS. MARTIN AND GILLONE'S SYSTEM OF HATCHING AND REARING YOUNG SALMON.* In addition to the group of salmon-breeding ponds at Stormontfield, a very successful suite of breeding-boxes has been laid down on the river Dee, in the Stewartry of Kirk- cudbright, by Messrs. Martin and Gillone, the lessees of the river Dee salmon-fisheries. Mr. Gillone, who is an adept in the art of fish culture, was one of the earliest to experiment on the salmon, and so long ago as 1830 had arrived at the conclusion that parr were young salmon, and that that tiny animal changed at a given period into a smolt, and in time became a valuable table-fish. These early experiments of Mr. Gillone's were not in any sense commercial ; they were conducted solely with a view to solve what was then a curious problem in salmon-growth. In later years Mr. Gillone and his partner have entered upon salmon breeding as an adjunct of their fisheries on the river Dee, for which, as tacksmen, they pay a rental of * From the " Harvest of the Sea." 21 Q 242 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. upwards of 1200 per annum. The breeding-boxes of Messrs. Martin and Gillone have been fitted up on a very picturesque part of the river at Tongueland, and the num- ber of eggs last brought to maturity is considerably over 100,000. The present series of hatchings for commercial purposes was begun in 1862-3 with 25,000 eggs, followed in the succeeding year by a laying down of nearly double that number. The hatchings of these seasons were very unsuccessful, the loss from many causes being very great, for the manipulation of fish eggs during the time of their artificial extraction and impregnation requires great care a little maladroitness being sufficient to spoil thousands. The last hatching (spring 1865) has been most suc- cessfully dealt with. Messrs. Martin and Gillone's breed- ing-boxes are all under cover, being placed in a large lumber store connected with a biscuit manufactory. This chamber is seventy feet long, and there is a double row of boxes extending the whole length of the place. These receptacles for the eggs are made of wood ; they are three feet long, one foot wide, and four inches deep, and into the whole series a range of frames has been fitted containing glass troughs on which to lay the eggs. The edges of the glass are ground off, and they are fitted angularly across the current in the shape of a V. The eggs are laid down on, or rather sown into, these troughs, from a store bottle, on to which is fitted a tapering funnel. The flow of water, which is derived from the river, and is filtered to prevent the admission of any impurity, is very gentle, being at the rate of about fifteen feet per minute, and is kept perfectly regular. The boxes are all fitted with lids, in order to prevent the eggs from being devoured, as is often done, by rats and other vermin, and also to assimilate the condi- tions of artificial hatching as much as possible to those of the natural breeding-beds where, of course, the eggs are APPENDIX. 243 covered up with gravel and are hatched in comparative darkness. It may be of some use, particularly to those who are interested in pisciculture, to note a few details connected with the capturing of the gravid fish and the plan of exuding the ova practised at Tongueland. The river Dee is tolerably well stocked with fish, as may be surmised from the rent I have named as being paid for the right of fishing. Mr. Gillone adopts the plan, now also in use at Stor- montfield, of capturing his fish in good time in fact, as a general rule, before the eggs are ripe and of confining them in his mill-race till they are thoroughly ready for manipulation. Last season i. e., in November and De- cember 1864, and January 1865 as many as thirty-six female fish were taken for their roe, the number of milters being twenty-five, the total weight of the lot being 454 Ibs., or, on the average, six and a half pounds each fish. Ac- cording to rule, the weight of the female fish taken having been 283 Ibs., these ought to have yielded 283,000 eggs, but as several of the fish were about ripe at the time they were caught, they spawned naturally in the mill-race, where the eggs in due time came to life. The plan of spawning pursued at Tongueland is as follows : Whenever the fish are supposed to be ripe for that process, the water is shut out of the dam, and the animal is first placed in a box filled with water in order to its examination ; if ready to be operated upon, it is then transferred to a trough filled with water about three feet and a half long, seven inches in breadth, and of corresponding depth, and the roe or milt is pressed out of the fish just in the position in which it swims. As soon as the eggs are secured, a portion of the water is poured out of the wooden vessel, and the male fish is then similarly treated. The milt and roe are mixed 244 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. by hand stirring, and the eggs then being washed are dis- tributed into the boxes. Mr. Grillone carries on all his operations with the He greatest possible precision. has a large clear glass bottle marked off in divisions, each of which contains 800 eggs, and he numbers the divisions allotted to each par- ticular fish, which are sown into a similarly numbered division in his box, so that by referring to his index-book he can trace out any peculiarity in the eggs, etc. III. CULTURE OF CARP.* In ancient times there used to be immense ponds filled with carp in Prussia, Saxony, Bohemia, Mecklenburg, and Holstein, and the fish was bred and brought to market with as much regularity as if it had been a fruit or a vegetable. The carp yields its spawn in great quantities, no fewer than 700,000 eggs having been found in a fish of moderate weight (ten pounds) ; and, being a hardy fish, it is easily cultivated, so that it would be profitable to breed in ponds for the fishmarkets of populous places, and the fish-salesmen assure us that there would be a large demand for good fresh carp. It is necessary, according to the best authorities, to have the ponds in suites of three viz., a spawning-pond, a nursery, and a receptacle for the large fish and to regulate the numbers of breeding fish according to the surface of water. It is not my intention to go minutely into the construction of carp-ponds ; but I may be allowed to say that it is always best to select such a spot for their site as will give the engineer as little trouble as possible. * From the " Harvest of the Sea." APPENDIX. 245 Twelve acres of water divided into three parts would allow a splendid series of ponds the first to be three acres in extent, the second an acre more, and the third to be five acres; and here it may be again observed that, with water as with land, a given space can only yield a given amount of produce, therefore the ponds must not be overstocked with brood. Two hundred carp, twenty tench, and twenty A jack per acre is an ample stock to begin breeding with. very profitable annual return would be obtained from these twelve acres of water; and, as many country gentlemen have even larger sheets than twelve acres, I recommend this plan of stocking them with carp to their attention. There is only the expense of construction to look to, as an under-keeper or gardener could do all that was necessary in A looking after the fish. gentleman having a large estate in Saxony, on which were situated no less than twenty ponds, some of them as large as twenty-seven acres, found that his stock of fish added greatly to his income. Some of the carp weighed fifty pounds each, and upon the occasion of draining one of his ponds, a supply of fish weighing five thousand ponds was taken out ; and for good carp it would be no exaggeration to say that six pence per pound weight could easily be obtained, which, for a quantity like that of this Saxon gentleman, would amount to the sum of 125 sterling. IV. DISCOVERY OF ARTIFICIAL FECUNDATION BY JACOB!.* In 17G3, Jacobi, a lieutenant in the small principality of Lippe-Detmoldt, first announced, in the pages of the " Hannover Magazin," a periodical published in the town * From Agricultural Report, 1866. By Theodore Gill, M. D. 21 * 246 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. indicated by its title, the results of experiments, conducted for about thirty years, on the artificial fecundation of the salmon and trout, and this memoir, in its entirety or in abstracts, was published in Berlin and Paris, and the discovery directly communicated to several of the prominent naturalists of the day, especially Bufi'on. Jacobi even received from the English government a pension, in appreciation of the importance of his discovery. Artificial fecundation, soon afterwards practised on a larger scale at Noterlem, also in the kingdom of Hanover, yielded favorable results. Jacobi having recognised the nature of the sexual relations of the fishes, and that the female, when spawning, was followed by the male, who dropped his milt over the ova of his companion, and thus fertilized them, inferred that nature may be imitated and assisted by man. He therefore took a clean wooden bucket or shallow tub, and emptied into it a pint of clear water. Taking then a female salmon whose ova were mature, he expressed them by a gentle pressure of the hand down the abdomen, and treated a male fish in the same manner, discharging his milt over the ova. The ova, thus fertilized, were then placed in a box made for the purpose, and which is thus described by Jacobi, as translated by Fry : " The box may be constructed of any suitable size : for example, eleven feet long, a foot and a half wide, and six inches high. At one extremity should be left an opening six inches square, covered by a grating of iron or brass wire,the wires not being more than four lines apart. At the other extremity, on the side of the box, should be made a similar opening, six inches wide by four inches high, similarly grated. This one will serve for the escape of the water, the other for its entrance, and the grating will prevent water-rats or any destructive insects from reaching the eggs. The top of the box should be closely shut for the APPENDIX. 247 same reason ; but a grated opening, similar to the rest, six inches square, may be left to give light to the young fish. This, however, is not absolutely necessary. A " suitable place should then be chosen for the box near a rivulet, or what is still better, near a pond supplied with running water, from which may be drawn, by a little canal, a stream, say an inch thick, which should be made to pass continually through the gratings and through the box. " Lastly, the bottom of the box, to the thickness of an inch, should be covered with sand or gravel, and over this should be spread a bed of stones of the size of nuts or acorns ; thus will be made a little artificial brook running over a gravelly bottom." The fecundated eggs are spread " in one of the boxes so placed, and the water of the little rivulet passes over them, care being taken that it does not run with such rapidity as to displace and carry away with it the eggs, for it is neces- sary they should remain undisturbed between the pebbles." " Care must be taken to remove, from time to time, the dirt which is carried by the water and deposited on these eggs ; this can be done by stirring about the water with a quill feather." Using such precautions, and profiting by the experience gained in the course of his experiments, Jacobi perfectly succeeded in his attempts, and to him belongs, unquestion- ably, the merit of first artificially fecundating the eggs of fishes, or at least, the first publication of the principles of the art and of the results which would logically flow from it. 248 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. V. ARTIFICIAL SPAWNING-BEDS.* While artificial fecundation apparently fulfils the chief requisites for the propagation of some fishes, such as the sahuonids, there are others for which it cannot be employed with equal advantage. Nature has, in such cases, been assisted by the preparation of places suitable for the deposit of the ova and milt of the fishes which it is desired to propagate, and by the preparation for such of beds which will be instinctively resorted to by them. This practice has been especially employed in France, and has been very recently advocated by the celebrated academician, M. E. Blanchard, professor at the museum of natural history, &c., in an excellent work on the fresh-water fishes of France. The obvious advantages resulting from the exposition of an author's own words, induce the writer to submit a translation from M. Blanchard's work : " In view of the present condition of the rivers and canals of France, the idea of artificial spawning-beds would appear to be a most happy one. M. Millet, before the Society of Acclimatization, has insisted, with great earnestness, on the preference to be given, in many cases, to artificial spawningbeds over artificial fecundation. M. Coste has justly remarked that artificial fecundation is not all-sufficient, and yet a contrary opinion is generally prevalent. No one has forgotten the marvellous results which we were to obtain by means of artificial fecundation ; fishes, left to themselves, could not thrive and have a numerous progeny. Their duties should be assumed by us, and the advantages would be incalculable. More than fifteen years have elapsed since * From Agricultural Report, 1866. APPENDIX. 249 these seductive announcements were made, without having yet furnished brillant results. " Among fishes, some, as the salmon, deposit their ova in slight excavations, in gravel, or in the interstices between stones; others, as the perches, and cyprinids (carp, bream, roach, &c.), attach their ova, agglutinated together by means of a viscid matter, to aquatic plants, stones, or any bodies to which their eggs can be fixed. It is especially for the last that artificial spawning-beds might sometimes be advantageously prepared. " The construction of an artificial spawning-bed is a very A simple matter. framework of sticks or laths should be made, and to such framework, boughs, furze, and aquatic plants should be fastened by cords, in such a way as to form irregular structures. It is also easy to give to struc- tures of this kind a circular form, by taking hoops for frameworks. The form, and especially the size to be given to these spawning-beds, would necessarily vary, according to the character or the size of the body of water in which they are to be immersed. They should be held to the bot- tom of the water by stones, and fastened to a stake or post on the bank. When kept in place in this way they can be easily drawn out of the water, if it becomes necessary to do so. " It will be readily understood that these artificial spawn- ing-beds will be especially serviceable in those streams and canals which are so clear as to be devoid of any natural spawning-beds. " For the salmonids, which spawn on a gravelly bottom, and whose ova remain free, artificial spawning-places are very simple and readily prepared. It is only requisite to cover in certain places the beds of rather shallow and rapid streams, near the bank or the bottom of rivulets, with a thick layer of gravel or pebbles, and to prepare slight ex- 250 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE. cavations or furrows, like those made by the salmon or trout, to deposit their eggs in. M. Millet also recommends that small heaps of pebbles should be raised at the edges of these furrows. By means of these contrivances, trout, especially, would often be attracted, and be content to stop and spawn in places which they would not otherwise frequent, and where it would be convenient to keep them.' VI. THE GOURAMI. ITS HABITAT, OR NATIVE COUNTRY.* Among foreign fishes, none has excited so much interest, in an economical point of view, or has been the subject of so many attempts at acclimatization among the French, as the celebrated gourami the Osphromenus gourami of natural- A ists.f somewhat extended notice of its peculiarities and relations to other fishes, its habits, and of the attempts made to acclimatize it in France and her colonies will, therefore, doubtless be