434 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



arrival we lost 9 of the young fish ; but the 41 left are very lively, and 

 T hope they will thrive perfectly well in their new home. 



" We are very grateful for a present which enables us to acclimate a 

 species so valuable as catfish, not injurious to other fishes, and contented 

 with stagnant or muddy waters. It will be, I trust, a good acquisition, 

 and I will not fail to inform you of the results." 



Netherlands. — The same week 30 catfish were sent by Captain Taat, 

 of steamship Edam, for the Zoological Garden at Amsterdam. July 7, 

 Dr. C. Kerbert wrote in reply : 



"I have the honor to communicate to you that I have received 30 

 catfish, in the best condition. I thank you very much for this present. 

 1 hope that the catfish will hatch here in the aquarium ; in this case I 

 shall write you immediately. They are the first catfish introduced into 

 Europe. I mean that the experiments in 1882 by Mr. Thomas Wilson at 

 Ghent, in introducing the catfish in Belgium, have produced no results." 



England. — June 20 there were sent by the White Star Line 50 catfish 

 to the National Fish Culture Association, South Kensington, London. 

 The success of the shipment was reported by the secretary, W. Oldham 

 Chambers, in his letter of July 10, as follows : 



"I received with much pleasure your letter of the 18th ultimo, inti- 

 mating that you had sent 50 catfish as a present to this country. You 

 will be pleased to hear that 48 of them survived the journey and were 

 immediately placed by me in the tanks of this aquarium prior to their 

 removal to our fish-culture establishment at Delaford Park. I shall do 

 my utmost to propagate the species in order that this valuable food-fish 

 may be acclimatized in the waters of Great Britain." 



The following notice occurred in the London Globe of July 11, 1885 : 



"Mr. W. Oldham Chambers, F. L. S., director of the National Fish 

 Culture Association, has received from the United States Commissioner 

 of Fisheries a consignment of selected specimens of catfish indigenous 

 to the waters of America. They arrived by the steamship Britannic, in 

 perfect condition, all being alive, and apparently none the worse for 

 the voyage, which, considering the time it occupied, is remarkable. 

 These fish are of great economic value, and it is intended to naturalize 

 them in English rivers, where it is considered they would assume a 

 high rank among freshwater fishes. The catfish possesses a peculiar 

 scarcity of small bones, and it is regarded in America as a valuable 

 food -fish. Although this species does not produce a large number of 

 eggs, it possesses an extraordinary instinct for protecting its eggs and 

 young. Pending the removal of the fish to the waters belonging to 

 the association, they will be exhibited to the public in the aquarium at 

 the Inventions Exhibition." 



U. S. Fish Commission, 



Washington, D. C 7 ., September 10, 1885. 



