18 FISHING WITH THE FIT. 



I have selected them as the subject of my contribu- 

 tion, because a single glance at the array of well-known 

 names of those who are to be my co-contributors, con- 

 vinced me that if I wished to present any new, inter- 

 esting, or valuable facts upon any icthyological subjects 

 within my range, I would have to travel well out of the 

 ordinary tracks, and go prospecting in some " far 

 countree." 



This I have done, and I feel confident that I alone 

 of the contributors have been " forced by circumstances 

 over which I had no control," into a situation where 

 the obtaining of my notes became pleasure instead of 

 toil. 



The notes which will be woven into this paper are 

 not all of them entirely new. Some have entered 

 into a series of letters, which over the signature 

 " Piseco " have appeared in the columns of the Forest 

 and Stream, during 1879-80-81. Through the courtesy 

 of the editor of that journal, I am permitted to again 

 make use of them. 



I have preferred a grave charge against the salmon 

 and trout of Alaska ; it is but just that I should ex- 

 plain the basis upon which it is founded, and endeavor 

 to establish my claim to be somewhat of an authority 

 on the subject. 



From the middle of June, 1879, to the latter part of 

 September, 1880, I, as the commander of the IT. S. 

 ship of war Jamestoivn, was stationed in the Territory 

 of Alaska, with general instructions to restore and 



