48 The American Angler 
scientific craze for multiplication of 
species. 
The young angler who essays for the 
first time this lordly fish, will know him 
at once by his overcoat of molten silver 
and the long filamentous ray of the 
dorsal fin, which at times may be seen 
protruding from the water when the 
fish is on the shallows or swimming 
near the surface. When he leaps from 
the water, the veriest tyro cannot mis- 
take the fish; it looks like a streak of 
light, the sun’s rays strike the scales, 
and the fish seems to sparkle and blaze. 
Of its habits but littleis known. It ap- 
pears to wander along the coast of 
Florida from June to October, reaching 
the St. Johns river, on the east coast, 
about the first part of the former 
month, and going southward and west- 
ward in the fall. But, true to the 
purer instincts of the nobler species of 
game fishes, it delights in the sparkling 
spring waters whence many of the 
rivers of Florida take their sources, and 
it is said that the fish remains in these 
springs during the entire winter. It 
occasionally straggles north as far as 
the New England coast, and several 
specimens have been taken by nets in 
Long Island sound and from the ocean 
piers at Coney Island. 
The tarpon has a habit of coming to 
the surface and ‘‘ blowing,” as the na- 
tives call it. This occurs, however, at 
irregular intervals. It seems to’ re- 
quire more air than other gill fishes, 
hence it comes to the top of the water 
and takes in a mouthful, which it evi- 
dently passes through the gills to in- 
crease the oxidization of the blood, and, 
when in this act, has been known to 
make distinct sounds of blowing out 
and drawing in air, exactly as is done 
by the porpoise. Traces of lung forma- 
tion exist which go far to substantiate 
the claim that the tarpon is less cold- 
blooded than its congeners of the south- 
ern seas. Certainly its aerial leaps and 
intelligent method of freeing itself 
when hooked indicate a higher grade 
of development than exists in many 
other fish, particularly those of salt 
water. 
The tarpon is said to spawn in the 
latter part of May, and to continue to 
do so until June 15, but we have no 
definite knowledge of its habit in this 
respect. Baby tarpon of one and a 
half pounds have been taken with the 
artificial fly, but their age when of this 
size is only conjectural. At certain 
seasons it is more resplendent in color- 
ation than at others, which analogically 
would indicate the approach of the 
spawning season, were it not that the 
tarpon, when ‘‘fresh run” from the 
Gulf of Mexico, like the salmon in 
more northern seas, has a brilliancy of 
color tints which is said to fade when 
the fish reaches the shallow cf the bays 
and the fresh water of the spring-fed 
rivers. In June they sometimes gather 
in great shoals, often numbering two to 
three hundred, and at such times they 
may be seen sculling leisurely around 
and around, with their high topgallant 
dorsal fins sticking out of the water. 
When thus acting they present every 
appearance of a shoal of fishes in the 
act of spawning. : 
Fishing for tarpon may be termed 
composite angling, for a tarpon rodster 
should be master not only of the 
methods of handling salmon, but also 
those employed in killing a striped bass 
on the rod—the salmon and the tarpon 
are leapers—the striped bass and the 
tarpon are deep-water surgers. From 
these conditions arise the tyro’s diffi- 
