THE TARPON 33 



about eighteen inches of water. This was green and 

 muddy, but not slimy. It was impregnated with sulphur 

 and the odor of this element rose strongly from the dis- 

 turbed bottom. A few miles away was a constantly flowing 

 sulphur spring, used to bathe in by the natives, and this 

 lagoon has apparently some connection with the same 

 source of supply. 



"This unprepossessing liquid was filled with innumer- 

 able small insects, which, upon examination, proved to be 

 water-boatmen, both adults, with handsomely variegated, 

 yellow elytra, and young, which looked at first glance 

 amazingly like copepods. * * * 



' * I saw no signs of fish and was about to return to shore 

 when something nipped my ankle. This happened again, 

 and I called for the seine. We had hardly commenced to 

 draw it when small fish began leaping high to escape it. 

 Closing the net I secured a considerable number, and when 

 we examined our catch on the shore I found thirty-six 

 tarpon, ranging from two to eight inches. 



*'When I recovered from my first astonishment at 

 seeing these clean-scaled, virile fish living in this sulphur- 

 ous, stagnant pool, I examined the smallest for any hint 

 of the leptocephalus stage through which it is assumed 

 they must pass early in life. Neither this, nor a later, 

 much more thorough examination showed in these young 

 fish any hint of such phase — even the smallest was as 

 normal and perfectly formed as any six-foot giant of the 

 Florida waters. This may mean only that the leptocephalid 

 characters disappear when the fish are still smaller. 



"The second lagoon was absolutely barren of fish life, 

 and a haul made in the shallow Gulf water just outside the 

 dike of the lagoon yielded nothing but thirteen small 

 puffers. 



"My next visit to Source Matelas was on Jan. 23. This 

 time there were several hundred wading birds about the 



