50 



RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



Silver Gar. 



Tylosurns hnr/irostris. 



About June 2d several specimens of this 

 fish were taken in the Barnej' River. One 

 was brought for my examination. It meas- 

 ured twenty-three and one-half inches 

 extreme length, and a cross section of the 

 body was an egg shaped oval, one and seven- 

 eighths inches across the longest measure. 



The name "Gar" is said to be derived 

 from a Saxon word meaning "needle," and 

 in the Gulf of Mexico they are called 

 " needle fish" ; the form is strongl}' suggest- 

 ive of the name, for the jaws extend into a 

 narrow beak, set around with sharp conical 

 teeth, the lower jaw was three-eighths of an 

 inch longer than the upper and measured 

 five and one-fourth inches. This inequalit}- 

 is said to occur only in matured specimens. 



The general color above was a dark 

 mottled and somewhat changeable green, 

 lighter toward the sides, and all the under 

 parts silver}' ; the skin very smooth and with- 

 out scales ; while from a median line drawn 

 the length of the side, fine lines or inden- 

 tations pointed diagonally backward. The 

 dorsal fin, short and small, and nearly oppo- 

 site of the ventral fin. 



Mr. Newton Dexter informs me that he 

 has captured this species in the Seekonk 

 River, and he does not consider them at all 

 rare in Rhode Island. The general habitat 

 is from Massachusetts Bay to the Gulf of 

 Mexico, northern Central America and in 

 the AVest Indies.* 



Observers state that the Gars swim rapidly 

 with undulator^' motion near the surface of 

 the water, and seize upon such smaller fishes 

 as associate in shoals. 



The bones are green in color, which has 

 a tendenc}' to make the fish unpopular for 

 food, but the flesh is said to be of fine flavor, 

 and on the south coast of England a kindred 

 species is taken in large quantities and es- 

 teemed a delicacy. There are three other 

 North American species, one of these com- 

 mon in Southern California. 



* Natural HMory of A(juatic Animals, Government 

 Publication, page 45S. U. S. Commissioner of Fish and 

 Fisheries. 



,' While collecting, about one hundred 

 • miles north of Lawrence City, Wyoming 

 Territory, I came across an old hollow pine, 

 which had the appearance, by having some 

 feathers around a hole about ten feet from 

 the ground, of being inhabited. My friend 

 climbed up and looked in, exclaiming, 

 "Owls or snakes, but here goes," at the 

 same time thrusting in his arm and pulling 

 out b}' the head a duck, which proved to be 

 a female. Barrows Golden Eye (Bucephala 

 islandica). She was sitting on eight eggs, 

 green in color, of uniform shape, and 

 measuring two and one-half b}- one and five- 

 eighths, which were far advanced in incuba- 

 tion. Two of them had the appearance of 

 being frozen, as the shells were cracked and 

 the contents protruding. 



The next morning, June 3d, I had to 

 break the ice on a pond near b}' to procure 

 water for our camp. That day it snowed 

 from daylight until dark ; such weather 

 was enough to chill a china egg, and I don't 

 wonder at an unprotected duck's egg getting 

 nipped. W. C. Smith. 



A Florida 'Possum Hunt. 



My friend and I were recently from the 

 North, and our Southern neighbors had 

 promised to take us on a 'possum limit; so 

 one clear December evening, jasL alter sun- 

 down, we started. There were six of us, 

 and four dogs. We were well, but variously 

 armed. One had a spade, another an axe, 

 a third a hoe, a fourth a heav}' cudgel, my 

 friend his double-barrel, and I brought up 

 the rear with a lantern, which prove(l to be 

 as u eless as the formidable armature. 



Having filled our pockets with oranges 

 from a neigboring grove, we struck off" into 

 the " hammock," a term applied to the 

 dense hard- wood forests as distinguished 

 from pine land. The Southerners were dis- 

 posed to regard my lantern as a su|)eifluity, 

 and I heard covert sneers at the '* Yankee 

 notion." To paj- them I took care to hold 

 it so that the}- should be as much as possible 

 in the shadow as we stumbled through the 

 underbrush in a long, irregular line. I 

 secretl}' hoped, too, that one of them would 

 step on a snake in the darkness, when I 

 would come to the rescue with the light. 

 But no such contingency occurred, and the 

 moon rising, soon clouded mj- hopes. 



