30 



fifteen tons of ice. The unusual chill and dampness that pervaded the 

 car, together with the immense labor and loss of sleep, had made nearly 

 all on board sick, for a greater or less time; and altogether, the ti-ip had 

 been one of such extreme hardship and severe labor, that we hailed this 

 last da}' with a sense of the greatest relief. 



As soon as we iiad finished our hearty breakfast, all hands went to 

 work to transfer the fishes into the various portable tanks in which 

 they were to be taken to their destinations. This oecupicl all the time 

 till the train reached Sacramento, at one o'clock and thirty minutes p. M., 

 June twelfth. Here we met Mr. S. E. Throckmorton, of the California 

 Fish Commission, and others, who took charge of the large Black Bass, 

 the Horn pouts, the Eoek Bass, Glass-eyed Perch, and Penobscot Sal- 

 mon, all being in first-rate order. 



Mr. Green, Mr, Perrin, and Mr. Eichard Hubbard accompanied these 

 fish to their destinations, while Mr. Forbes, Mr. Waldo Hubbard, and 

 myself continued with the car to San Francisco. 



Upon reaching the San Joaquin Eiver, we deposited the Schuylkill 

 and Mississippi Catfish safely in that river, in the presence of quite a 

 large number of people, who left the train to see the deposit made. At 

 Alameda Creek we deposited the small Black Bass; at an inlet of the 

 Bay of San Francisco, near Oakland, we left the Tautog and salt-water 

 Eels; and the Lobsters we deposited in the bay itself. In the mean- 

 time, the remain<ler of the part}', who left the car at Sueramonto, placed 

 the Glass eyed Perch in the Sacramento Eiver; the Horn-pouts and fresh- 

 water Eels m an inlet, or slough, of the Sacramento Eiver; the Penob- 

 scot Salmon in the same river, at Eedding; and the Black Bass in the 

 upper waters of Napa Creek. The car was left at Oakland. 



So ended the expedition of the second California aquarium car, just 

 eight days and nine hours from the time it left Charlestown, New 

 Hampshire. In all the features of the original plan of the expedition 

 it was a success. The eleven varieties of fish which this plan contem- 

 plated, were brought through alive, and successfully deposited The 

 taking of the salt-water fish was an afterthought, and can onlj' be 

 regarded in the light of an experiment. The Shad were lost, it is true, 

 but I had alread}' brought the yea.v before five thousand Shad to Great 

 Salt Lake, and thirty five thousand to the Sacramento Eiver. The fish 

 which did survive, except the Lobsters, arrived in splendid order, it 

 being a fact (as before mentioned) that the Black Bass, and others, 

 seemed in better condition than when they left New Hampshire. The 

 Lobsters were in a feeble condition, but had a vast quantity of impreg- 

 nated spawn with them in good order. The result of the expedition 

 was to introduce into the public waters of California eleven varieties of 

 fish not native to the State. The attempt to carry salt-water fish across 

 the continent need not necessarily be abandoned as impracticable because 

 it was not a success on this particular occasion. The circumstance that 

 the salt-water fish did not live, finds a very simple explanation in the 

 fact that nothing was known about transporting them, and no time was 

 aff'orded this season for finding out by experiments. This difficulty can, 

 of course, be avoided on a subsequent expedition, by taking ample time 

 beforehand to discover how the sea fish of the Atlantic can be kept 

 alive sufficiently long to survive the overland journey, and by giving 

 them the treatment which it has been found they require; then the en- 

 terprise can be made successful. 



Eespectfully, . LIVINGSTON STONE. 



