SHAD IN THE ALABAMA RIVER. 595 



Alabama River and from several tributaries of the Mississippi prior to any steps towards the arti- 

 ficial propagation of Shad in these waters by tbe United States Fish Commission. It is, however, 

 probable that many of the so-called ''White" Shad were but large specimens of tbe ''Golden" 

 Shad of the Mississippi Basin. Unquestionably, however, Professor Baird was referring to the 

 capture of a. genuine Clupeasapidissima in the waters tributary to the Gulf of Mexico wlieu he wrote: 1 

 "I have already referred to the discovery of Shad in tbe Alabama River, whether the result of 

 Dr. Daniel's experiments already detailed or not; and I am assured by reliable testimony that 

 they are found at the present time in other streams of Alabama. Of this I aui well satisfied, 

 having actually received a specimen from Mr. W. Penn Yonge, of Springville, Alabama, taken at 

 Elba, Alabama, and preserved in alcohol, and distinguishable in not the. slightest particular from 

 the Shad of the eastern coast. I have also the assurance of Dr. Lawrence of their capture at the 

 Hot Springs of the Ouaehita; of Dr. Middletou Goldsmith, at the Falls of the Ohio, near Louis- 

 ville; and of Dr. Turner, in the Wabash River of Indiana and Illinois, and in the Neosho River of 

 Kansas." 



If the occasional presence of individuals of this species in the waters tributary to the Gulf of 

 Mexico be admitted, it seems unaccountable that, since no fisheries have there bee7i established for 

 its capture, that the natural increase should not have been such as to cause at least as abundant 

 a run into the rivers emptying into the Gulf as into those on the Atlantic coast. 



If, moreover, assuming that this species has been present in these waters iu sufficient numbers 

 for effective reproduction, natural causes have not combined to establish a run of this fish in the 

 tributaries of the Gulf, it can scarcely be hoped that any measures of artificial reproduction would, 







if resorted to, accomplish the desired result. Nor does existing, proof appear sufficiently positive, 

 as yet, to establish more than the occasional occurrence of isolated specimens in these waters 

 under conditions simply natural. It is probable that where true Shad have been found in the 

 tributaries of the Gulf of Mexico explanation may thus be made: Occasional individuals have 

 strayed beyond their natural geographical range, around the Florida peninsula, and, once in the 

 Gulf, they have entered the rivers under the impulse of reproduction, but never in sufficient quan- 

 tities to maintain themselves. 



In January, 1879, by direction of Prof. G. B. Goode, the writer was requested to proceed 

 to the Alabama River to investigate the question of the natural occurrence that White Shad in 

 this river. The report then made gives probably all the facts on this subject that have yet been 

 obtained. They are as follows: 



"There is no doubt that ' White Shad,' to the number of two or three thousand, were taken in 

 the Alabama River and its principal tributary, the Coosa, in the seasons of 1878 and 1879, and of 

 inferior size and in smaller numbers in the season of 1877. Whether these runs of Shad were 

 the result entirely of the government 'plants,' beginning in 1875, or were due in part to previous 

 plants made by individual enterprise, are .the questions to the solution of which I have directed 

 my investigation. I have not sought to determine the question whether the ' White Shad,' Cln/n-n 

 sapidinsima, is indigenous to the Alabama River. This has been stated again and again. Judge 

 Phelan, in a letter to the 'Montgomery Advertiser' of April 11, 1878, claims to have eaten 'Whih. 

 Shad' at Centreville, Alabama, not later than 1848. They were taken in traps at the Falls of the 

 Cahaba, and were pronounced 'White Shad' by Mr. Samuel Jamison, an old North Carolina li>h- 

 erman. Judge Phelan further states that some claimed that they were only Hickory Shad. 



"No amount of such evidence can ever settle this question. There is always the possibility 



'Report United Slates Fish Commission, part ii, p. 55. 



