I04 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



they are present, while Anopheles will appear in similar places 

 where there are gold and other fish. Two of them will keep a 

 tub clear of mosquitoes. They breed rapidly, bringing forth 

 young several times in a season. When extruded, they are 

 many times larg'er than the newly hatched gold fish and, having 

 no umbilical sac, they begin to prey at once." 



Among the fishes of New Jersey there is none that cjuite fills 

 the place of this Gamhusia for choked-up streams and swampy 

 areas. It lives in fresh water as readily as it does in brackish, 

 and does well in captivity or restricted areas generally. Its abil- 

 ity tO' get along in the merest film of water over a lily leaf, where 

 Anopheles larvse find safety from other fish, gives it a field of 

 usefulness whose importance cannot be over-estimated. It was 

 deemed important then tO' make certain, if possible, that the 

 species did not actually exist along our coast line. Mr. Seal 

 asserts that New York dealers have the species, often in large 

 numbers in late summer, and that they are supposed to come 

 from Long Island. The species is not included in Dr. Bean's 

 work on the fishes of New York; but the conditions along our 

 South Jersey shores are not unlike those much further South, 

 and Mr. Seal believed that there was at least a good chance of 

 finding- the species. In August, 1903, therefore, he visited the 

 shores along Absecon, Two-Mile Beach and Cape May. All 

 the species already mentioned were here taken, and several others 

 which are of no importance for our present purpose; but there 

 was no trace of Gainbiisia. Yet Mr. Seal believes it may be in 

 some of the creeks or rivers emptying into the Delaware Bay; 

 but that point could not be investigated. The species will live 

 in New Jersey, during the summer at least, and there seems to 

 be no good reason why it should not be able tO' winter, as well. 

 But to make the experiment properly required more money than 

 I could spare from the appropriation, hence no attempt was made 

 to secure an actual stocking of any stream. 



Mr. Seal writes on this point : "The sea coast of New Jersey 

 is, in my opinion, amply protected so far as fishes are concerned. 

 I do' not think you can improve on Fundiilus, Cyprinodon and 

 Lucania for the marshes of the coast. And as for the shore 

 waters of the Delaware and its open tributaries, Fimdidus will 

 do the work. But there are thousands of ' branches ' which con- 

 nect with the creeks by sluices, and which are sluggish and dense 

 with plants. 



"This, therefore, is a separate problem from that of the coastal 

 waters proper. 



"It is my belief that it would be wise to place Gamhusia in the 

 head water ' branches ' of the cedar-swamp fed streams, such as 



