PROCLEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 77 



within 80 yards, all small 5 I never saw a shark over four feet long 

 dead. Tlie cow-fish and eels were about the last to die. fn regard 

 to the cause of their dying-, I liave made uj) my mind it was caused by 

 the fresh water, as there was immense quantities of fresh water coming 

 down the bay, and the water here was nearly fresh on the surface, while 

 the water underneath was perfectly salt. Xow, if the fresh water could 

 have passed off into the Gulf without being disturbed by winds, and 

 it would have naturally spread out thinner and thinner as it would have 

 rolled on towards the Gulf Stream, and once it got tliere, then there 

 wouhl have been no trouble. But on the Ttli of October we had a heavy 

 gale from the southwest, and it continued to blow from the south and 

 west until the 11th of October, and a very heavy sea running at the 

 mouth of the bay, and it churned the fresh and salt water all up together, 

 and the strong southerly winds set this mixed water back and kept it 

 here for several days. I noticed, a few days before the fish commenced 

 to die, a peculiar smell on the water, something like the smell of bilge- 

 water, and the color of the water was a dirty green, mixed with small 

 sediment. I noticed the fish while they were dying, when they first 

 come in shoal water; they would act crazy, dart around in every direc- 

 tion, but in a short time would give up and float ashore. On examining 

 them I found their gills all glued together with a slimy substance and 

 of a whitish color,* and in a short time the gills would turn green and 

 the fish bloat very large. I cannot make any correct statement as 

 to the number that died, but thousands of barrels floated up on this 

 island. There are no fish dying now ; all we catch are fat and nice. I 

 should have written to you before, but I have been very busy. I've 

 had a new duty to i)erform, taking the tide every half hour. Any in- 

 formation I can give you at any time I will be happy to do so. 

 My address is : Braideutown, Manatee County, Florida. 

 "Very respectfully, 



CHARLES MOORE, Jr., 



Keeper of Egmon^ Light-House. 

 Ernest Ingersoll, 



U. aS'. Fifih Co>iniiisf<ion, 



Washington, D. C. 



Along this region of the Florida coast are several establishments or 

 '• factories" devoted to the catching and salting of fish, chiefly the nndlet 

 and its roe, and to the making of superphosphates. All of these were 

 obliged to suspend operations, and their Minter's work has been ruined, 

 or at least all the profits are gone. One gentleman told me of a single 

 definite loss he had thus suftered of $800. 



To this part of the coast, also, comes a large fleet of smacks and 

 "smackees" every winter to catch fish for the Key West and Havana 



*I failed to find any other instance in which this thickening or begnnnniug of the 

 gills had been observed. The dead lish were elsewhere reported as healthy in appear- 

 ance, and in one case, at least, were eaten withont harm, or even indigestion occur- 

 ring. — E. I. 



