iSSoU Introduction of Eastern Fishes 



like Greek, but it is really Indian; as spoken by 

 the natives, it would be spelled ''Ulchn." 



At Astoria I secured the first shad — Alosa sapidissima — Shad, 

 recorded from the Pacific Coast, and sent it on to Washington. ^f^P^d 

 Eggs and young fish had been brought from the Potomac i', 

 and planted in the Sacramento in 1877 by the California com- ^^^j ,,J^^ 

 missioner of fisheries, Benjamin B. Redding, Mark Hopkins 

 of Sacramento defraying the cost. The species has since 

 enormously multiplied on the Coast, so that it is now more 

 plentiful here than in the Atlantic and spawns in all the 

 large streams from the Sacramento northward to southern 

 Alaska. 



At the same time the young of the Striped Bass — Roccus 

 lineatus — the Horned Pout — Avieiurus nebulosus — and the 

 Fork-tailed Catfish of the Potomac — Ameiurus catus — were 

 also brought over. Each then multiplied after its kind, as did 

 the later importations of the Large-mouth Black Bass — 

 Micropterus salmoides — the Bluegill — Lepomis pallidus — • 

 and (in the Columbia) the Yellow Perch — Perca flavescens 

 — and the Crappie — Pomoxis sparoides. The Carp — Cypri- 

 niis carpio — was also successfully introduced at about the 

 same time, becoming as elsewhere in America an unmitigated 

 nuisance, for it roots in the ground like a pig, and keeps slug- 

 gish waters constantly muddy. Since its introduction Clear 

 Lake, the largest of the volcanic depressions in California, no 

 longer justifies the name. 



In September our work was finished. Our manu- 

 script report we had sent back to Washington, 

 bunch by bunch, as soon as it was ready, to be edited 

 and published as part of Goode's general report on 

 the fishing interests of the United States. Gilbert Tropical 

 now started for Washington by way of Mazatlan and ''■'^p^°^^- 

 Panama, a long detour on which he secured the first 

 coherent knowledge of the fish fauna of the west 

 coast of tropical America. The next winter he again 

 visited the Isthmus, collecting a large amount of 



I 229 3 



