BLACK BASS AT THE MARQUIS OF EXETEr's. 3G3 



expense to fetch these bass. Mr. Silk kindly gives me 



the following report of his expeditions, the pains he 



took to obtain success does him the greatest credit. 



He writes : — 



All of the black bass that I brought in 1878 from the United 

 States of America were taken from the Delaware River. I placed 

 them in boxes floating in the stream ready to be taken away. On 

 the day preceding the sailing of the steamer for England they were 

 placed in the tanks I had prepared for them by the river side. We 

 got them to the train without any loss, and on arriving in New 

 York had them placed on the main deck of the steamer ; it was then 

 11 p.m., we having left the Delaware Eiver at 3 p.m. Up to this 

 time I had no loss ; my greatest trouble was the high temperature 

 it stood at — 78 deg. all night. I kept the water as cool as possible 

 with ice. I stayed by the tanks all night pumping air every few 

 minutes, and keeping people from meddling with them. When 

 daylight came I examined the tanks and found five dead fish, which 

 I removed at once. It was now 5 a.m., and the ship was to sail 

 at 6 a.m. I got some men to assist me in changing the water in 

 the tanks. I had one spare tank, which I filled fir«t, then reduced 

 the temperature from 75 deg. as it came out of the hydrant to 58 

 deg., then placed the bass in it, and so on until I had given them 

 all fresh water. We sailed at 6 a.m. sharp. When we got out to 

 sea a few miles, I made arrangements with two of the steerage 

 passengers to assist me on the voyage. It was then 9 a.m. I gave 

 them both instructions what to do. After this I arranged with my 

 men to keep watch two hours each, and to relieve each other at 

 meal times. I always took four hours' watch in the night. I then 

 roused one of the men and gave over the fish in good order. If 

 there were any dead I always took them out at once. I made it a 

 point never to go to my cabin at night. We got on very well the 

 first day, as it was cooler, but after this we got into the Gulf 

 Stream ; both the air and sea was very hot, the atmosphere 85 deg., 

 and the water in the sea 78 deg. It was during these five days we 

 lost the most fish. We cleared the water every day by straining 

 it through flannel, all thick and dirty water we threw away and 

 added some fresh water made by melting ice. The sixth day out 

 we got into cooler weather, and the fish commenced to do better. 

 The temperature of the atmosphere dropped to 57 deg. We used 

 very little ice unless to make fresh water with. We kept on like 

 this until we reached Liverpool, after ten days' passage. I now 



