July 26, 1888] 



NA TURE 



309 



Holtz, as quoted in the earlier part of my lecture, previous to my 

 own practical experiments. For had I read such opinions from 

 such authorities I should probably have accepted them without 

 putting them to practical test. As the matter stands I have done 

 those things which they said I ought not to have done, and I 

 have left undone those which they said I ought to have 

 done, and by so doing I think you must freely admit that I have 

 produced an electric generating machine of great power, and 

 have placed in the hands of the physicist, for the purposes of 

 public demonstration, or original research, an instrument more 

 trustworthy than anything hitherto produced. 



T 



NOTE ON THE TARPON OR SILVER KING 

 (MEGALOPS THRISSOIDES). 



HE genus Megalops belongs to the family Clupeidae, and, 

 amongst other features, is characterized, according to Dr. 

 Giinther, 1 by an oblong compressed body, the presence of a 

 narrow osseous lamella attached to the mandibular symphysis and 

 lying between the halves of the mandible. Further, the latter is 

 prominent, the intermaxillary short, the maxillary forming 

 the lateral part of the mouth. There are bands of villiform 

 teeth on the jaws, vomer, palatines, pterygoid, tongue, and base 

 of skull. 



The interest in the species above-mentioned has been con- 

 siderably increased of late by the fact that the huge fish (between 

 5 and 6 feet in length, and weighing from 90 to 150 pounds) can 

 be caught by rod and line, and I am much indebted to Lady 

 Playfair for giving me all the information she had obtained on 

 the subject through her father and Mr. W. G. Russell of Boston, 

 United States. 



The tarpon (Megalops thrissoides) frequents the Atlantic 

 shores of North America, and is especially found "on the 

 western or Gulf coast of Southern Florida, haunting the shallow 

 bays and creeks inside the bars and keys which stretch along 

 that coast ; and the fishes are supposed to enter by the passes 

 from the outer Gulf. 2 



" In shape the tarpon somewhat resembles the salmon, but, 

 as becomes one of the herring tribe, it is deeper and less rounded, 

 and the head is larger, the scales (cycloid) are thick and large, 

 more than an inch in diameter" (a fine scale sent by Lady Play- 

 fair measures 2\ inches both in antero-posterior and transverse 

 diameter), " and the exposed portion is of a bright silvery hue, 

 indeed it looks as if it had been dipped in silver and burnished : 

 hence the name 'silver king.' I have seen specimens weigh- 

 ing from 50 to 137 pounds, and have heard of none above 

 150 pounds. 



"The tarpon has always been upon the Gulf coast, but 

 was formerly captured, as the sword-fish is, by the harpoon. 

 In 1885, however, a Mr. Wood undertook successfully to secure 

 the fish by rod and reel. . . . About 150 have been caught in 

 this manner during the seasons 1885 and 1886, the time being 

 in March and April, perhaps a little earlier in a warm season : 

 after April it is too hot for fishing. 



"The fish is caught on the edge of the channels in 15 to 25 

 feet of water with a bait of (half a) mullet. The rod should be 

 very stiff, not more than 9 feet in length, such as is used for 

 large sea-bass, and the line strong, but fine enough to carry 

 200 to 250 yards on the reel, which must therefore be large and 

 heavy. A snood or gauging of about 3 feet of cod-line, copper- 

 wire, or chain, should be fixed to the hook 3 as the dental apparatus 

 of the fish efficiently combines a file and shears, with which even 

 a double cod-line may be frayed or worn off, or, severed without 

 a sensible strain. 



"The tarpon takes the bait lying on the bottom, and moves 

 off, swallowing it, until he is struck, and the moment he feels 

 the hook he is out of the water, perhaps 3 or 6 feet in the air, 

 shaking his head fiercely — as does the black bass — to disengage 

 the hook, and then begins such a fight as, I believe, no other game 

 fish ever shows. It frequently leaps with a clean breach twenty 

 times before the game is over, and so close that it occasionally 

 sends a douche over the boatmen ; while in one instance a large 

 one made a run of 100 yards, the whole of which was a suc- 

 cession of frantic leaps and plunges, leaving a wake like that of 

 a steamer. The same fish towed my boat, with three men in it, 



" Introduction to Fishes," pp 661-62. 



Extracted from a description (from persona! observation) by Mr. W". G. 

 Russell, of Boston. 

 i Described elsewhere as " an O'Shaughnessy knobbed 10-0 hook." 



about two miles, and, after more than an hour's hard fight, ended 

 by three huge leaps out of the water amongst some mangrove- 

 trees, the oysters on the roots of which cut my line, so that we 

 parted company after a close and protracted intimacy." 



There is little doubt, from the foregoing remarks, that the 

 SDlendid sport of tarpon-fishing must make it most fascinating. 

 In April 1887, indeed, a single rod caught nine fish in eleven 

 days, two of them weighing respectively 151 and 149 pounds, and 

 in length 6 feet 4 inches, and 6 feet 5 inches. These were taken 

 at Punta Rassa on the western coast of Florida, the total weight 

 of the catch being 1042 pounds, or an average of about 116 pounds 

 for each. The tarpon, like others of its tribe, has the advantage 

 also of being good food. W. C. McIntosh. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Bulletins de la Societe D 1 Anthropologic de Paris, tome 

 dixieme, 4e fascicule, 1887. — This closing number for the last 

 year enumerates the various presentations made to the Society 

 since the previous publication of the Bulletins. Among the 

 recent communications attention is due to M. Boban's report of 

 the interesting collection of North American flint instruments 

 presented to the Society by the Smithsonian Institution. They 

 appear to be almost identical with those existing in Europe, 

 and belonging to the Stone Age. — M. Verneau, on present- 

 ing various stone instruments from the Canary Isles, drew 

 attention to their rude forms, due, he believes, to the relatively 

 brittle character of the basalt and obsidian from which they were 

 cut. The few specimens of polished stone belong only to 

 Gomere and Canary Proper, and are, therefore, conjectured to 

 have been introduced by some of the numerous North African 

 invaders who landed on those islands. — M. Andre Sanson's 

 paper on experimental craniology in reference specially to domes- 

 tic animals, which he considers under two cephalic types only, 

 viz. the dolicocephalic and the brachycephalic, is directed against 

 the systems of craniometry and anthropometry at present in 

 vogue. M. Fauvelle took a leading part in the discussion to 

 which the paper gave rise, and gave his views in regard to the 

 value of the cephalic index, which he considered to have been 

 greatly overestimated by Broca and his followers. These re- 

 marks, and the refutation of Broca by M. Topinard, form, with 

 M. Sanson's paper, a complete exposition of the various views 

 maintained in different provinces of anthropological science in 

 France. — Report on the various papers presented by competitors 

 for the Godard Prize in 1887, by M. Moudiere. — On 

 aphasia and its history since the original observations of 

 Broca, by M. M. Duval. — On the distinctive characteristics 

 of the human brain considered from a morphological 

 point of view, by M. le Dr. S. Pozzi. — On a case of super- 

 numerary digits on the cubital margin of each hand, by Dr. 

 Beranger. — On the morphological variability of the muscles 

 under the influence of functional variations, by Mme. Clemence 

 Royer. — On the abnormal elongation of the cuboides, accom- 

 panied by the pressure of a round pronator in a horse, by M. E. 

 Cuyer. — On the tumulus of Kerlescan at Carnac, by M. Gaillard. 

 The remains of this interesting monument, with its double 

 dolmens similar to the covered allees, known as " Hunebeds " in 

 Holland, were first described in i860, since which time they 

 have suffered so much from neglect and wanton injury that M. 

 Gaillard is making a strong appeal to the Government for their 

 protection. — Note on the tumuli of a covered gallery, examined 

 in 1887, near Montigny l'Engrain (Aisne), by M. Vauville, and 

 report of the crania found there, and referred to the Furfooz 

 men of the dolmen age, by Dr. Verneau. The preponderating 

 character of these crania was their length and straightness. 

 Several bore marks of cicatrised wounds. — On a Quaternary 

 equidean, similar to the kertag of Kirghis, described by M. 

 Poliakoff under the the name of Equtis Przewalskii. The 

 description of the kertag with its short and straight mane, its 

 relatively large head and inferior height, corresponds remarkably 

 well with the numerous representations of the Quaternary 

 equidean found in different parts of Western Europe among the 

 varied debris that mark the site of primaeval settlements. In 

 the Magdelian carvings found in the cavern at Arudy among 

 mammoth bones, special prominence is given to the thin, rat- 

 like character of the tail of the animal, a feature that is very 

 marked in the kertag, which appears to be the nearest living 

 representative of the horse of the Quaternary age. 



