104 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



increased supply of food brought within reach of the fish multiplied 

 them to that degree that at the head of the pond, where in the spring 

 they crowded together in the brook which supplied it, they (trout) were 

 taken by the hands at pleasure, and swine caught them without diffi- 

 culty. A single sweep of a small scoop net would bring up half a bushel ; 

 carts were filled with them as fast as if picked up on dry land. The 

 increase in size of the trout was as remarkable as the multiplication of 

 their numbers. 



We thus have indicated : Diminution of mossy woods ; diminution of 

 insect-life, upon which the young prey almost entirely and adult fish 

 largely feed ; diminution of fish. Could a more complete circumstantial 

 chain of evidence be required? 



Thus the mosses have an importance in supporting that prolificacy of 

 life in the streams which exist in the far North ; and the same pests 

 which torment the Indian serve him in one remove as food; the same 

 pests which trouble the frontiersman stock the streams with abundant 

 life to serve him as food, and to attract the angler who employs him as 

 a guide. As the mosses lose their supremacy the black fly disappears, 

 the mosquito diminishes in number, and our streams dwindle in size, 

 and even lose their flow in seasons of drought; and their capacity for 

 supporting troufc-life is sadly diminished. In overcoming the wilder- 

 ness man is necessitated, through the infinite correlations of nature, to 

 destroy the natural sources of food, and through art to sustain himself, 

 less precariously, it is true, but with greater toil, from the land. He 

 promotes vicissitudes of climate, and changed conditions which work to 

 him injury, in order to realize the immediate gains which he desires; but 

 is prone to overlook the causes of his acts, as nature acts through lit- 

 tles, which require thought to connect with their effects ; and not the 

 least of her littles are the humble mosses which exist so abundantly 

 where coolness and moisture are to be found. 



POISOIVED WATER IIY THE GULF OF MEXICO. 



[From the Sunland Tribune, Tampa, July 20, 1882.] 



We learn from Capt. William Jackson, of the steamer " Lizzie Hender- 

 son," that on his trip from Cedar Key, Tuesday, he encountered a streak 

 of poisoned water, covered with all varieties of dead fish, of more than a 

 mile in extent, off Indian Pass, between Clear Water and Egmont Light. 

 The captain says that a very offensive smell arose from it, and that a 

 good many bottom fish, such as eels, were floating dead on the surface. 

 We opine that this fact upsets the theory of some as to this poisoned 

 water being fresh water from overflow on the mainland, impregnated 

 with poisoned vegetable matter, as there are no streams of any size 

 flowing into the Gulf near where these fish were found. 



