65 



others for those which, in my opinion, are not as good as they 

 should be, then some competent person should make an 

 examination of other brooks. 



I do not know what time of the year the young salmon go 

 down past the obstructions named. If they go at low water, 

 when at several places the great body of water goes through 

 mill-wheels, many of them may be killed ; hence my sugges- 

 tion of stocking some streams lower down. If, however, the 

 fish make the descent of the upper river at times of high 

 water, they have the choice of going over dams or through 

 wheels. However this may be, some have escaped, and the 

 stocking of the Hudson with salmon is one of the successes 

 of fish culture with which I feel proud to have been con- 

 nected. 



Cold Spring Harbor, N. V. 



Mr. Burden. — The salmon in the river promise a larger 

 run than that of last year, to which Mr. Mather's paper refers, 

 although it is early yet. I am told by Mr. Blackford that ten 

 salmon were taken yesterday within ten miles of the battery, 

 which is, as you all know, the southern extremity of New 

 York city. 



THE COLOR OF FISHES. 



BY G. BROWN GOODE. 



The skin of a fish, upon the structure of which its color 

 depends, consists of two layers, the outer or epidermis, deli- 

 cate, transparent and not supplied with blood-vessels ; the 

 inner, the corium or dermis, laminated and elastic, varying in 

 thickness in different species, and in different parts of the 

 body, and permeated by blood-vessels and nerves. Between 

 the skin and the underlying muscles is a layer of loose con- 

 nective tissue, often loaded with fat, especi^ly in^the mackerels 



