DANIELL INTEODUCTION OF SHAD IN ALABAMA EIVER. 389 



(late for the preparation of the shad-eg'ij;s. Possibly it may have beeu 

 earlit^r. 



The first white shad known to have beeu taken was in 1851 or 18.52, 

 in traps placed at the foot of the Black Warrior, near Tuscaloosa, Ala. 

 Their value not being known, the owner of the traps threw some away 

 and sold others for a few cents. About the same time the white shad 

 was taken in traps at the foot of the falls of the Alabama River, near 

 Wetumpka. In 1858 (or ten 3- ears, as I suppose, after the deposit of the 

 eggs by Major Cooper) they were taken in abundance in the traps near 

 Tuscaloosa. 



Very truly yonrs. 



Professor S. F. Baird, 



Washington, D. C. 



W. C. DANIELL. 



E rowAH, Ga., January 2G, 1860. 



Dear Doctor: I thank you for your letter of the 2Ist instant, 

 received yesterday, calling to mind an incident of nearly twelve years 

 past, which was an exi)eriment made by me at your instance and request,* 

 with the expectation, as you advised me, of supplying the western 

 waters emptying into the Gulf with the white shad, a fish unknown in 

 those waters up to that date. 



Mrs. Daniell, and Charlie, and you, are certainly just in their and your 

 recollections. So is my recollection that early in the spring of 1818 I 

 received of you by mail, directed to me at this place, a letter and a pack- 

 age. In your letter you stated to me a fact entirely new to me, but 

 ascertained by naturalists, that the eggs of the white shad, taken from 

 the fish as soon as caught, might be impregnated by a process-artificial, 

 preserved, and sent any reasonable distance, and, being favorably 

 deposited at a proper period of the year, would hatch. Yon liad there- 

 fore taken the proper steps to procure the eggs of the white shad thus 

 prepared, and forwarded them to me, living" on the Etowah Kiver, tlie 

 waters of which run into the Gulf of Mexico, You requested me to 

 select a proper location in some small stream emptying- into the Etowah. 

 Your objecjt, as you explained, was to stock the waters emptying into 

 the Gulf with white shad, that the people of the States watered by these 

 rivers might be furnished with one of the best that is known. The 

 package which accompanied this letter contained the eggs, a great 

 number. Being excited and interested. I took special care of the eggs, 

 and in the month of April, selected, as I was advised by you, a favora- 

 ble location in a small branch or streamlet which empties into the Eto- 

 wah River near my residence, between the rolling-mill and flour-miU, 

 and there deposited the eggs, taking every precaution to screen them 

 against intrusion. After a time they disappeared, and there my account 

 of the eggs must end. I did not take the precaution to confine them, 



