BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 251 



Lordes of Entomostraca and other small animals with which both fresh 

 and salt waters teem ; how these again are accumnlated in apprecia- 

 ble qnantities so as to furnish an important source of food is shown by 

 the immense numbers, amounting to many thousands, which may be 

 taken from the stomach of a single fish. In the case where the large 

 quantity of Copepoda was obtained from the stomach there were proba- 

 bly more than 100,000 individuals of these crustaceans, which would 

 average a fifteenth of an inch long and a fiftieth of an inch wide. This 

 fact will serve to show how fine the meshes of the branchial sieve must 

 be to prevent the prey of the shad from escaping from this remarkable 

 collecting apparatus. The soft i^arts, too, of the individual crustaceans 

 were so well preserved that one could distinguish the pigment of the 

 eyes, the muscles, and intestine with its contents, while the vast num- 

 ber of their eggs mixed amongst their bodies testified to the multitudes 

 ef females which had been swallowed. These facts would appear to in- 

 dicate most positively that the fish had captured its food quite recently 

 and after it had reached quite fresh water. 



FI8HIIVQ AND FISH-CUI^TURE IN Fr.ORII>A. 



By F. B. FISHER. 



[Letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.] 



Mr. Way turned over your letter to me as I am in the fish business 

 and am in favor of raising fish and stocking rivers. Florida has the 

 finest lakes and rivers for this purpose. This country is filling up 

 with first-class people, who will appreciate this kind of work. I have 

 fished on this river for ten years, and I have fished on all rivers in the 

 United States and coast. Eipe roe shad can be had at this jjlace from 

 five hundred to one thousand every twenty-four hours, if we have an 

 early season. There are small streams of clear water which are cold 

 branches that would answer spendidly for hatching purposes. When 

 I first came here I could pick up shad all along the lake shores where 

 the alligators run them out. The people have been shooting the alli- 

 gators ; thousands have been killed this season, and this gives the fish a 

 better chance. The garfish and catfish are very destructive to all other 

 kinds of large fish and small. Trout or bass destroyed large quantities of 

 small shad, and my object is to destroy catfish and garfish and by mak- 

 ing guano of them. Gizzard shad, or mud shad, are not good except for 

 guano. I am in favor of catching fish as long as they can be put to a good 

 use; I don't believe in wasting good fish. I have spent hours stripping 

 shad while fishing here. This is my home, and I will be at your ser\ice at 

 any time in stocking these lakes or rivers. Any information I can givein 

 regard to fish, I will be pleased to communicate. 



Sanfoed, Fla., September 12, 1881. 



