404 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



the carp. My stock was procured from a mill-pond situated uear Sandy 

 Creek, in Davidson County, Xortli Carolina. 



Disease affecting- speckled catfish. — Mr. B. B. White, writ- 

 ing from Thomaston, Ga., June 30, ISSG, says that about a year ago he 

 stocked a pond, previously occupied by carp, with speckled catfish ; but 

 that in the fall of 1885 they began dying. The old fish weighed from 2 

 pounds down, and they produced thousands of little ones about last 

 September; but now all are gone except a few, and none of these are 

 healthy. The pond is artificial, dug in a black muck swami^, and is fed 

 by a constant spring of good drinking water. 



Speckled catfish in Korth Carolina. — Mr. O. C. Anthony, writ- 

 ing from Centre, Guilford County, X. C, January 15, 1887, says that he 

 has two ponds for fish-culture, one for carp, the other (whicli is about 

 100 by 40 feet and 4 feet deep) being devoted entirely to speckled cat- 

 fish. In this last pond, in March, 188G, he put 10 siteckled catfish ob- 

 tained from Mr. J. F. Jones, of Hogansville, Ga.* They spawned in 

 August, producing many hundred fry ; and when he last saw them, be- 

 fore cold weather set in, these young fish were from 1 J to 2 inches long. 

 Mr. Anthony expresses the opinion that the cultivation of specked cat- 

 fish will be more profitable than carp culture. 



Shad on Staten Island in 1842. — " On the south side of the island, 

 preparation is made in March for the shad fishery, which continues in 

 April and May. This fish, when i)roperly cooked, is one of the most 

 exquisite and savory of the finny tribe. It is a migratory fish, and 

 visits the northern streams aonually, to deposit its eggs in the fresh 

 water beyond the reach of the tides and voracious fish of the ocean. 

 It formerly ascended the Hudson Eiver above Stillwater, and spawned 

 in Saratoga Lake, but the obstructions in its outlet at the mouth of Fish 

 Creek have long since excluded them from that lake. 



"After the shad has spawned, it becomes poor and thin, and so much 

 altered as hardly to be known for the same fish. The old fishes which 

 have not been taken in ascending our rivers, return with their young, 

 and pursue their way coastwise until they reach the Gulf of Mexico. 

 Every spring, shad frequent the Delaware, the Hudson, the Pas«aic, 

 and Connecticut Rivers. They grow fatter as they gain more northern 

 latitudes. At Charleston, S. C, in February, they are not esteemed. 

 When they reach Philadelphia, in March, they are in good condition and 

 fine eating. In April and May, they are still better in New York, and 

 those taken in Connecticut Eiver are esteemed the best. 



"The shad is the Glupea alosa of scientific writers. (See Mitchell's 

 New York Fishes.) On Staten Island the seine or draw-net is some- 

 times employed in taking shad, but the fike, or stationary hoop-net, is 

 principally used to capture them. Along the southern and eastern 

 shore of the island, every person who has a farm fronting on the water 



* For an article on lihe speckled catfish, by Mr. Jones, seo F. C. Bulletin for 1884, 

 p. 32 L 



