Vol. IV. No. 85. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



213 



THE TARPON. 



In the first vohuiie of the Af/i'icultand N'eics 

 several interesting notes were published with regard 

 to the occurrence of tarpon in the West Indies. The 

 extract in the last issue (p. 207) indicates that excellent 

 sport is to be had with this fish in Jamaica. 



An interesting account of the tarpon has been 

 recently published in the ' Smithsonian Miscellaneous 

 Collections' (Vol. 48, part I) by Theodore Gill. The 

 paper is entitled ' The Tarpon and Lady-fish and their 

 Relatives.' The following extracts from Mr. Gill's 

 paper are likely to be of interest : — ■ 



The tarpon (Mei/afops atlmiticus) ha.s an elongated, 

 fusiform shape ; the forehead slightly incurved (ratlier than 

 straight) to the snout ; the chin projects and is obliquely 

 truncated ; the dorsal fin (with twelve rays) is on the 

 posterior half of the body, nearly midway between the 

 ventrals and anal ; its free margin is very sloping and 

 incurved, and its long hind ray reaches nearly to the 

 vertical of the anal ; the anal (with twenty rays) is about 

 twice as long as the dorsal and falciform ; the caudal fin has 

 a very wide, V-shaped emargination. The scales are in about 

 forty-two oblique rows. It reaches a length of about 6 feet, 

 sometimes more. 



The tarpon may be briefly defined as a littoral fish of 

 warm American seas often entering into rivers and acclimated 

 in some inland lakes. 



Florida and Texas are the states in whose waters the 

 fish is most frequently seen, because there most looked for, 

 but its range extends far beyond those coasts in all directions. 

 In summer wanderers visit the north as far as Massachusetts, 

 where large individuals of the 'big-scale fish,' as they are there 

 called, are ' taken every year in traps at South Dartmouth 

 in the latter part of September ;' southward they may be 

 found in Brazil and sporadically in Argentina. Around all 

 the islands of, and in, the Carribean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico, 

 schools may be met with. Further immigrants have found 

 I their way into rivers that enter into the tropical seas and 

 ! the Lake of Nicaragua has long been famous as the home of 

 the species. 



Being essentially a warm-water fish, it is only in the 

 warm months that the tarpon is to be found at its northern 

 and southern limits. On the approach of cold weather it 

 retires towards the tropics. The tarpon is sensitive to sudden 

 changes of temperature and especially to cold, and to such 

 changes it is sometimes subject in its northern range. 



The life-history is very imperfectly known, but it does 

 not appear to breed at any place along the continental coast 

 ■ of the United States, for none except large individuals have 

 been recorded from those places most resorted to by anglers. 

 It apparently demands a temperature and conditions 

 which the reef-forming coral animals require, and sheltered 

 brackish or fresh water for oviposition. In such localities 

 about Porto Rico, in February 1899, Evermann and Marsh 

 found, not eggs, but very young, and there ' it evidently 

 breeds.' 



Most of the large tarpons caught along the coasts of 



Florida and the Southern States have attained full maturity ; 

 of such the length is about 6 feet, and the weight 

 approximates 100 lb. ; they are probably nearly or over three 

 years old. Growth, however, is continued in some much 

 beyond the average, one of 38.3 lb., it is claimed, having 

 been harpooned. 



The tarpon is now considered to have little or no edible 

 value. It has, indeed, been declared by Schomburgk to be 

 ' considered a delicate eating' in Barbado.s, and in the United 

 States been experimented with occasionally ; one (W. H. 

 Burrall), who did so in 1871, declared that it was very 

 palatable, but his taste was exceptional. It has been 

 frequently tried since but rejected for the table. An effort 

 was made on one or two occasions in Massachusetts when 

 considerable numbers had been caught, 'to find a market 

 for them,' as at New Bedford, ' but the people did not like 

 them, owing to the toughness of the flesh.' 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture will 

 proceed to Jamaica by the mail steamer leaving 

 Barbados on the 3Ist. instant. During his stay in the 

 colony, Sir Daniel Morris will devote attention to the 

 cotton industry, the new sugar-cane experiments 

 carried on by Dr. Cousins, and other matters brought 

 under his notice by the Government. Arrangements 

 will also be made for the West Indian Agricultural 

 Conference proposed to be held in Jamaica in January 

 next. 



Mr. L. Lewton-Brain, B.A., F.L.S., who for the last 

 three years has been engaged as Mycologist and 

 Lecturer in Agricultural Science on the staff of the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indies, embarked for New York on July 8 to take up 

 the appointment of Assistant Director of the Patho- 

 logical Division at the Laboratories of the Hawaiian 

 Sugar Planters' Association. Mr. Lewton-Brain has 

 rendered excellent service by his researches in 

 connexion with the sugar-cane, cacao, and other 

 industries. His colleagues part with him with great 

 regret and they wish him every success in his new 

 duties on the other side of the world. 



On the recommendation of the Director of the 

 Royal Gardens, Kew, the Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies has approved of the appointment of Mr. F. A. 

 Stockdale, B.A., First-class Natural Science Honours, 

 Magdalene College, Cambridge, to be BIycologist and 

 Lecturer in Agricultural Science on the staff of the 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indies. Mr. Stockdale, who is to succeed Mr. L. Lewton- 

 Brain, B.A., F.L.S., will shortly arrive in the West 

 Indies. 



On the recommendation of the Imperial Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture for the West Indies, Mr. W. N. 

 Cunningham, Assistant Superintendent of the Hope 

 Gardens at Jamaica, has been appointed Curator of the 

 Botanic and Experiment Station at Nassau, Bahamas. 

 Mr. Cunningham will carry on his duties under the 

 new Board of Agriculture established in that colony. 



