[5] THE UNITED STATES EXHIBIT AT BERLIN. 57 



Among the other products of the fisheries we must mention the ex- 

 cellent preparation of the air bladder of various fish exhibited by Messrs. 

 Howe & French, of Boston, which has met with great favor among 

 connoisseurs, and threatens to enter into successful competition with 

 various Russian products of this kind. We are informed that this ar- 

 ticle, also called isinglass, is used in nearly all American breweries for 

 making the beer clear. We cannot pass by Le Page's fish-glue exhib- 

 ited by John J. Tower, of New York. This article surpasses anything 

 ever seen in this line, and is even used for joining machine-belts, with- 

 out requiring any sewing. 



The principal attraction of the American exhibit is the large collec- 

 tion of useful and hurtful American marine animals, comprising 296 of 

 the more important American fish, reproduced in plaster, photographs, 

 and colored drawings. The plaster casts, especially, attract universal 

 attention. It is to be hoped that our scientists will imitate the example 

 set by America in this respect, for our people would thus be able to become 

 more thoroughly acquainted with the different kinds of fish than is pos- 

 sible without such plaster casts. Nothing is easier than to take a plaster 

 cast of a fish, and if it is colored true to nature, no more exact image 

 can be produced. Look at this plaster cast of a codfish, of a large size, 

 which hangs on the wall. Everything at once reminds you that you 

 have before you a specimen of the cod family, the powerfully developed 

 head, the peculiar formation of the back, the color of the skin; but not 

 of that cod family, hungry specimens of which visit our Baltic coasts, 

 hunting for herring and flounders. A fat and well fed codfish, like 

 this one, we can only imagine as having been produced by some ex- 

 perienced fish culturist. Such a powerful body, such a mass of firm 

 and juicy meat, can only be produced by the rich food found in the 

 sea near the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts. Here we also see 

 the favorite fish of the Americans, the shad {Alosa sapidissima), our 

 German "May-fish," which von Behr is endeavoring to introduce in 

 Germany, and hopes to make a popular article of food. Here we also 

 find Salmo salar, the Atlantic salmon, which ascends, for the purpose of 

 spawning, the rivers of North America, Europe (the Rhine), and Asia; 

 likewise the California silver salmon, which grows very rapidly and can 

 stand great changes of temperature; 5 varieties of American pike; and 

 some specimens of the menhaden, which are caught by the million to 

 serve as bait for codfish. Here is also another present from Amer- 

 ica, the American brook-trout [Salmo fo7itinalis), 8,000 eggs of which 

 we received two years ago, and which lives in the rivers and lakes 

 of British North America, in the northern part of the United States, 

 and in the xVppalachian range. Here we finally find von Behr's ideal 

 (or at lea«t one of his ideals), the famous striped bass or rock-fish 

 {Roccus lineatus), which is found from Florida to Nova Scotia, and 

 which, if imported into Germany, would be a most useful acquisition. 

 Any one who desires to see this gigantic fish may do so by visiting the 



