Other T routs and the Salmons. 171 



differs from the striped bass with its spiny fin-rays and 

 hard scales more than the dog differs from the fox or 

 the cat, and as much as the horse differs from the cow. 

 The water where Mr. Green was hatching shad may 

 have been filled with milt of shad; his bass milt may 

 have fallen on barren soil ; his eggs may have hatched, 

 and as he turned the fry loose he may have honestly 

 believed that the fish were the hybrids that he claimed 

 them to be, but I do not believe it. 



Since writing this a correspondent of " Forest and 

 Stream" asked some questions which were referred to 

 me. At the risk of repeating, I give his questions and 

 the answers. 



"i. How far can hybrids be produced among fishes? 

 2. To what degree are they fertile, either with one of 

 the parent stocks or with each other? 3. Do hybrid 

 fishes occur in a state of nature ?" 



Answer. i. No man knows how far hybrids can be 

 produced among fishes, because comparatively few 

 fishes have been bred artificially, and of these the ex- 

 periments in hybridizing have been mainly confined to 

 the salmon family. We know that animals must be 

 closely related to hybridize, and that few hybrids are 

 fertile. The wild "Canada" goose will breed with our 

 tame geese, but the progeny is infertile with either 

 parent or among themselves. The same is true of the 

 horse and the ass, which can produce the useful mule, 

 without which our armies would be impotent, and who 

 "without pride of ancestry, or hope of posterity," threw 

 his weight into his collar and pulled the artillery out 

 of the mud. Horses would have fretted to death at this 

 time, but the mules chewed a splinter from the neck- 

 yoke, received a lash that cut in deep, heard the ob- 

 jurgations of the driver,* and the battery went on. 



