SHAD IN THE TRIBUTARIES OF THE GULF OF MEXICO. 393 



the " strauge fish" that they caught. Every j^ear since the trap was 

 erected shad have beeu caught. This year we had a large increase ; the 

 first of the season was brought in April 5, and the heavy rains offered 

 advantages for trapping. Shad continued running until May 12, 1872. 

 Wagon-loads of them were brought to the springs during the season. 

 I send you a photograi)h of one that measured 203 inches in length. 

 I regret that it was not more artistically portrayed. I have partaken 

 of shad caught in all the waters of the eastern States, or the rivers 

 emptying into the Atlantic, from the Kennebec to the Savannah Elvers, 

 but never enjoyed a finer-flavored or more delicious shad than those 

 found in our waters. The river-bed, from the natural (novaculite) rocky 

 abutment that partly crosses the Ouachita River, at Eockport, for a dis- 

 tance of some fifty miles above, is generally rocky, with several rapids, 

 formed of metamorphic rocks, between that point and Farr's Dam. 

 This rocky river-bed contains good, fresh, pure living water, that is 

 mostly supplied from spring rivulets and mountains streams. After 

 heavy or continuous rains, the main stream sometimes rises very high, 

 frequently twenty to twenty-five feet in a few days. The Ouachita, 

 (pronounced Oo-che-taw, generally Wash-e-taw,) is an Indian name sig- 

 nifying male deer, called thus in consequence of the famous hunting- 

 grounds afforded in the mountain section of its source. It was, accord- 

 ing to the old chart, published in 1781, called Ox Eiver, but now it is 

 known only by the name given to it by the aborigines. It rises in the 

 western boundary ©f the State, between 34° and 35'^ north latitude, 

 drains a fertile section of Arkansas and Lousiana ; it empties into Black 

 Eiver ; Black Eiver into Eed Eiver ; Eed Eiver into the Mississippi 

 Eiver, all between 31° and 32° north latitude. 



In an article contributed to the "Turf, Field, and Farm," in 1869, I 

 called the attention ot ichthyologists to the fact that " white shad " existed 

 in the Ouachita Eiver. I feel that naturalists are not well versed or 

 familiar with the true habits of the shad. I believe that shad can be 

 found, at certain seasons, in most of the principal rivers on our eastern 

 margin of the American continent, from the Saint Lawrence to the Eio 

 Grande Elvers. Young shad, eleven inches long, were caught in the 

 trap at Farr's Dam in November, 1871. I feel fully satisfied that this 

 variety of fish is yearly becoming more abundant in the Ouachita 

 Eiver. 



On the authority of Oapt. Charles B. Church, of Memphis, Teun., I 

 will inform you of a little circumstance doubtless of interest to you. It 

 is a matter of record, he. states, that two fine large "white shad" were 

 taken in 1834 or 1835 at the falls on the Ohio Eiver, between Xew Al- 

 bany, Ind., and Louisville, Ky. These falls are about one thousand four 

 hundred miles from the mouth of the Mississippi Eiver. 

 I have the honor to be yours, respectfully, 



GEOEGE W. LAWEENCE, M. D. 



Hon. Spencer F. Baird, 



United States Commissioner Fish and Fisheries, Eastport, Me. 



