BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH commission;. 35] 



great numbers, but they are small Qsh. The large ones thai were once 

 so plentiful bave wholly disappeared. It' Congress would pass o law 

 forbidding the catching of mackerel by seines before Maj 25th ii would 

 give the iish time to deposit their spawn, and then the young fish would 

 have a greater opportunity to grow. Of course the State or National 

 laws would Lave no effect except within three miles of the shore. But 

 if such a law was passed, the custom house officials could withhold a 

 vessel's papers until after that date, and if she went out without them 

 the crew would be liable to prosecution under the piracy laws. A sim- 

 ilar law should bo passed to protect cod and haddock, but it would do 

 more harm than good to saddle too many sections upon the bill." 



The motion was unanimously adopted, and Mr. Small was requested 

 to favor the association with an evening's talk upou the subject of pro- 

 tecting salt-water fish. (Boston Journal, February 1), 1885.) 



Fish in Florida waters.— Mr. H. R. Clarke writes from Kissim 

 mee, Fla., February 2, 1885 : 



"I am taking some nice large-mouth bass here on the fly. At Tampa 

 I took a number of squeteague, or weak-fish (called there sea trout), on 

 the fly ; largest, 3 J pounds. Also caught a rockfish (our striped bass) 

 on small fly-casting, with light tackle, weighing 104 pounds ; both very 

 gamy. The lakes in Central Florida are handsome sheets of clean, pure 

 water, and abound in large-mouth bass (Oswego) and croppies, and 1 am 

 astonishing the natives by catching them with fly-casting. They take 

 them in the lake here to Hopetilige, and down the river to Kissim mee 

 Lake, and so on to Okechobee, 225 miles to the Gulf, on trawling tackle, 

 that weigh up to 16 pounds. My largest so far weighed 7 pounds." 



Decline in pish hatching in Vermont.— Mr. L. Stone writes 

 from Charlestown, N. H., January 16, 1885 : 



" Should very much enjoy hatching the 100,000 salmon eggs for Ver- 

 mont waters, but having changed my base of operations in trout hatch- 

 ing to Plymouth, Mass., I unfortunately tore down my hatching house 

 here last fall. Mr. G. A. Starkey, of Troy, K H., would be a good 

 man to hatch them, but his place is 25 miles from Vermont, and 1 can- 

 not, at this moment, think of a single hatching establishment in Ver- 

 mont that is in active operation this winter." 



Trout culture in Connecticut. — Mr. Richard E. Follett, writ- 

 ing from Worcester, Mass., February 21, 1885, says: 



"I started, December 1, 1883, by building a hatching house in which 

 I put 100,000 eggs. I had good success in hatching and also in grow- 

 ing them last season, many of them now measuring from <> to 7 inches 

 in length. The eggs 1 obtained from Mr. W. L. Gilbert, of Plymouth, 

 Mass. I have also received from him a few thousand English trout 

 eggs that are now beginning to hatch. As 1 stated in my former letter, 

 my location is Windham, Conn. 1 have abundance of cold spring 

 water with ample room for ponds and out of danger from freshet- ■" 



