146 Lhe American Angler. 
‘To What Base Uses,” Etc. 
We have all heard, or read, of the multitude 
of fish which, at certain seasons and particular 
tides, swarm in Florida waters. So great in 
numbers are they that use can only be made 
of them in some localities as fertilizers, but it 
was assigned to us during a recent visit to the 
Gulf waters to be the means, with our rods, of 
developing economical value in new directions 
for the fish of the Magnolia State. 
At Marco, about one hundred miles southeast 
of Punta Gorda, and ninety miles northwest 
of Keywest, we passed a week in February 
last with the artist engaged in painting the 
Gulf fishes for reproduction in our work—‘‘ The 
Fishes of North America.” The fish swarmed 
and we always captured a surplus, many times 
of fifteen to twenty fish each of several species. 
A few of these we took to the little hostlery 
where we were staying for the use of the cook, 
but many fish died during the process of paint- 
ing them, and the others, when not hooked so 
as to bleed, were thrown into the water. 
Many times we caught fifty to one hundred 
pounds of surplus fish. Coming home from a 
trip one day we met Mrs. Collier, our hostess, 
and we incidentally said to her: 
‘“We catch a great many fish that we throw 
overboard, and at any time you wish a mess 
of them, Mrs. Collier, if you will kindly let us 
know, we will bring them home to you.” 
“Thank you,” she replied, ‘‘ please bring 
them all home. What we don't eat I will 
have ground up for the Zens.” 
About five days after this conversation we 
arrived at Naples, where, selecting Gordon's 
Pass as our fishing and painting point, we 
spent nearly two months of the most delight- 
ful period of our angling life. Gordon’s Pass 
was about three miles from Naples proper, 
and as one fished six days in the week we left 
our tackle, boat and painting material at the 
house of the hotel gardiner, a few rods from 
our fishing point, returning to the hotel at 
Naples every evening. 
The fishing was equal to that at Marco and 
our surplus fish grew on our hands, and in re- 
turn for the kindnesses received from the 
gardiner, we said to him one evening: 
‘“Do you like fish ? Wecan keep you sup- 
plied if vou do.” 
‘‘Oh! my wife and I are very fond of them.” 
‘‘What species do you like best? We get 
nearly all kinds.” 
‘“Trout and snappers, but we can take all 
you catch. What we don't eat I'll grind up 
for the hogs. 
The Brazilian Zebra Fish—//eros facetus. 
Prof. Hugo Mullerrt, of 173 Nostrand ave- 
nue, Brooklyn, is publishing a very interest- 
ing quarterly, 7he Aguartum. The pro- 
fessor is a practical man in this department of 
natural history and has spent many years in 
its study. We excerpt the annexed valuable 
essay, on the Zebra fish, from his magazine: 
“This new aquarium fish was first brought 
to Germany, by an enthusiast, a year ago, 
and was successfully propagated last summer. 
We saw the original imported fish with their 
fry. Our picture is a good representation; we 
reproduced it from Natur und Haus. 
‘“The fish attains a size of about five inches 
in length by two inches in width. The gen- 
eral appearance of the fish is that of a sunfish; 
the ground color of the body, which is entirely 
covered with small scales similar in size to 
those of the Paradise fish; is a brassy yellow 
marked with a number of irregular vertical 
bars or stripes of black; the dorsal and anal 
fins are large and long, being composed of a 
great many rays, of which about two-thirds 
are spinous; they are black in color; at times, 
however, when the fish is excited, the yellow 
of the body becomes brighter and runs in 
streaks into the black dorsal fin, making this 
appear as if it was a continuation of the body; 
the ventral fin is colorless and transparent; 
the caudal fin is rounded. The eyes are yel 
low, flashing like fire on some occasions, re- 
sembling those of the moss bass. 
‘‘The fishis very attractive, especially when 
excited; it reminds one of a herald of the 
middle ages, whose dress used to display the 
the colors of their masters in stripes. At 
other times the fish will assume a very plain 
grayish color, with only one ‘irregular black 
spot on each side of the body, midways and 
near the ends of the dorsal and anal fins. 
Young specimens show these peculiar mark- 
ings even more distinct than the adults. 
‘«The habits of the zebra fish are very much 
like those of our moss bass; they are very 
pugnacious and display the same motions 
when attacking one another as the moss bass 
does, but their point of attack is the mouth, 
which, if they succeed in grasping, they hold 
firmly, much like fighting male Paradise fish 
