Notes and Queries 



167 



liappen to get among them, and sometimes do 

 a great deal of damage by making holes in the 

 banks of the pond and letting the water off. 

 The best remedy against them is a few com- 

 mon steel traps. On inspection you will find out 

 where they enter the pond, as they will make a 

 little bare runway on the edge of the bank by 

 always going in and out of the same place. 

 Set the trap in the water at the edge of the 

 pond so that the pan of the trap will be just 

 under the water. Anchor the trap by running 

 a stake through the ring of the chain and stick 

 the stake in mud out in deep water. The ob- 

 ject in doing this is that when the muskrat 

 is caught he will drown ; if he should succeed 

 in reaching the shore the probability is that he 

 would gnaw his leg off and thus escape. The 

 jaws of the trap should be set so that when 

 they close they will be in a line with the path. 

 If this precaution is not taken, when the trap 

 springs it would be very liable to throw the rat 

 out. No bait is necessary in this case. When 

 there is no runway in which to set the trap as 

 above described, set the trap on the bank and 

 stick a piece of sweet apple on a twig and 

 place it in the ground slanting, so as to bring 

 the bait over the jaws of the trap. If mink are 

 troublesome set traps as last described for 

 muskrats, bait with piece of fresh meat, cover 

 the trap nicely with leaves or a piece of cloth 

 as near the color of the ground as possible, and 

 the trap should be sunk in the earth, so that 

 when it is covered it will look level and nat- 

 ural. They are suspicious creatures, and the 

 trapper must exercise cunning if he captures 

 them. 



The Biggest Rod=fish. 



We all remembei that mammoth sawfish, 

 weight 575 pounds, caught some years ago at 

 Fort Myers, Fla., on a tarpon rod and water 

 gear. It made th; record up to that time as 

 the largest fish ever killed on rod and line, but 

 it pales before the monster herein described 

 by the Tropical News : 



One of the most wonderful catches ever made with 

 the rod and reel was accomplished by Mr. N. M. George, 

 of Danbury, Conn., on Friday last. He was fishing for 

 tarpon at Nigger Head, a few miles down the river, with 

 A. F. Gonzalez as guide, when he got a strike. It did not 

 take long to ascertain that the game was even bigger 

 than the silver king, and Mr. George settled down to 

 give the fellow battle. The fish soon came to the sur- 

 face. He was a monster sawfish, and he slashed his saw 

 about in the water at a great rate, Mr. George handled 

 the fish most skilfully, and proved that he is a thorough 

 expert in the use of rod and reel. The battle lasted one 



hour and twenty minutes, when the sawfish was brought 

 to the gaff and killed. He measured 14 feet 8 inches in 

 length and weighed 625 pounds. His saw was 40 inches 

 in length and 5 in width, and his flippers measured 56 

 inches. This gives Mr. George the record on the Caloo- 

 sahatchee for the large-t sawfish ever caught with rod 

 and reel. Mr. George says he doesn't care to tackle an- 

 other, and this is the conclusion of all the noted experts 

 who have ever played a sawfish. This may read like a 

 great fish story to people who know little of the great 

 fishing on tlie Caloosahotchie River, but the facts as 

 given are absolutely correct. The gentlemen who come 

 here from all parts of the world to catcli tarpon are gen- 

 uine sportsmen, and would scorn to have an incorrect 

 record made of any of their catches, which are all made 

 with rods and reels. 



Do Fish Renew Their Scales ? 



We have been asked, "Do fish renew their 

 scales?" This subject is one not clearly un- 

 derstood by ichthyologists. The medium m 

 which fish live being impenetrable at great 

 depth to the human eye, the opportunities are 

 few in which their habits and structural 

 changes can be noted. In proportion as the 

 science of fish culture advances, we are learn- 

 ing more and more of the domestic life of cul- 

 tivated species, but a perfected knowledge of 

 the habits and physical peculiarities of fish 

 will, we fear, be of slow and indefinite growth. 

 This much, however, we know, that the scales 

 of all fish are continually wasting away on the 

 surface, and that a few fish, notably the sal- 

 mon, " shed" them periodically, and that dur- 

 ing the process of shedding the outlines of the 

 scales are singularly irregular. 



Strange Water Beings. 



Zoological experts at the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution are busy studying and inventing names 

 for the strange animals cast up by the wonder- 

 ful artesian well at San Marcos, Tex. Some of 

 them have been forwarded to Washington in 

 bottles and jars, and much excitement has 

 been occasioned among Government scientists. 

 They declare that this is the most remarkable 

 discovery of subterranean life ever made. 



The Government contemplates— according 

 to the " Boston Transcript "—the establishment 

 of a fish hatchery at San Marcos for the propa- 

 gation of black bass, cat fish, and other pond 

 fishes. Boring was begun for the purpose of 

 obtaining water, which was struck in plenty at 

 a depth of 188 feet. In fact, when that pomt 

 was reached the drill suddenly dropped four 

 feet, having evidently reached a big cavity, 

 and out poured a vigorous stream. The stream 



