PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 107 
tures at Anna Maria Key, and at Passage Key, large flocks of cor- 
morants were sick and dying. I also saw the carcasses of terns, gulls. 
and frigate birds. The cormorants sat on the beach with their heads 
under their wings, and could be approached and handled. 
It might be also proper to state that on Monday morning, December 
14, about one hour before day, I heard a roaring southwest of Passage 
Key, apparently far out at sea, resembling the “blowing off” of a steam 
boiler. The noise continued some ten minutes and ceased. After day- 
light [ heard a similar roaring, which lasted about five minutes. There 
was no steamer in sight in the direction of the sound, and I observed 
no swell in the sea following it. After I got under sail I heard the noise 
a third time. Whether this was followed by the death of fish I am 
unable to say, as I did not stay to see. I mention this incidentally as 
a corroboration of Mrs. Hoy’s statement, which is hereto appended. 
Whether or not either of these disturbances of the water had any con- 
nection with the mortality among the fishes, the theory of sub-aqueous 
eruptions of poisonous gases is extremely plausible and reasonable. 
INDIAN Rock, Flora, December 21, 1880. 
STATEMENT OF MR. ——— WILLIAMS, OF POINT PINELLAS. 
The fish began dying about the last of October here. All kinds die 
except red-fish. Hels and sea-toads are most numerous, though all kinds 
die. I have seen only a few sheepsheads. I think it is caused by a 
black scum on the water resembling soot. When a school of mullet 
get into water covered by this black scum, they die at once. Oysters 
are affected by this also, and those who eat of them are made very sick. 
STATEMENT OF MR. ———— SPENCER, OF THE TAMPA TRIBUNE. 
I went out last Sunday (November 28), expressly to see for myself, 
and, if possible, to account for the dying of the fishes in Tampa Bay. 
I feel certain, from what I saw, that itis caused by fresh water from the 
creeks, rivers, and marshes. The water where the fish are dying looks 
black and slimy, very different from the usual color of the bay water. 
You see there has been an unusual amount of rain this fall, and this 
becoming impregnated with the pcison of decaying vegetation, is poured 
into the bay in unusual quantities and poisons the fish. This is my 
opinion, and I give it for what it is worth. The oyster saloons here 
were obliged to close, as the oysters came near killing several people. 
STATEMENT OF MRS. CHARLES HOY, OF LITTLE MANATEE. 
~ The fish began dying here about the Ist of November. About 5 
o’clock on the evening of October 28, or thereabout, I was sitting on 
my front gallery, the air being perfectly still and the bay calm, when 
I heard a heavy splashing of the water in the direction of Gadsden 
Point. This continued for a few minutes and was immediately followed 
