274 WHERE, WHEN, AND II OW TO CATCH FISH 



by the line — no gaffing or other ceremonial ; there is no leaping or 

 jumping — all honest fishwork, below the surface and in his own ele- 

 ment. I have taken small-mouth bass of similar weight and length, 

 and brook trout not so large, and they simply do not compare with 

 this fighter. There is no fish (of his class) which can be named with 

 him. They are not in the same category unless it be in beauty. It 

 would be like comparing snipe shooting with hunting deer. 



"This fish is round-barrelled and heavy for its size. It has a 

 pointed snout, with mouth under its nose like the hake, which is most 

 erroneously called by New York fishermen kingfish. Its head has no 

 scales, but is covered by a shining silver epidermis. The eye is 

 black and quite large. The scales are large and are closely set on 

 the body, and look like a network of closely compacted silver rings. 

 A most gleaming fish. 



" The first question asked as to a fish is : 'Is it good to eat ?' This 

 one is very good to eat. It has the disadvantage of all the fish for the 

 table — the shad — of being full of bones, but the flesh in the intervals 

 is delicious. I like it better than the pompano, and next after the 

 shad." 



NOTE BY GREGG. 



Mr. Harris agrees with the scientific men in his classification, and has illustration 

 of the " Albula vulpes" as the Bonefish of Biscayne Bay, and of the " Elops 

 saurus" as the Lady-fish Bonefish of the fishermen and sportsmen of Florida. 

 His article on the subject, is, in my opinion, the best one ever written, and is here 

 copied with his kind permission. His work, Vol. I, is a large folio, containing, in 

 addition to the text, forty colored illustrations, and ninety-three engravings of fishes. 



He was my guest during all of April, and part of May last, on a cruise from 

 Miami to Key West, which he continued from Key West north to Ponce Park 

 (Mosquito Inlet), thus visiting nearly all the best fishing grounds of the East Coast, 

 a distance of 422 statute miles. While at Key West I happened to catch, within a 

 few minutes, one each of the two fishes in question, both of which we took aboard 

 and carefully examined and compared with Bulletin 47, the result confirming all 

 that he had said on the subject in his " Fishes of North America." 



He has kindly written the following affirmation of his previous statements and 

 conclusion, for insertion herein, viz : 



"August 20, 1902. Since writing the above (in 'Fishes of North America') I 

 have encountered the bone-fish {Albula vidpes) in the waters of the Florida Keys, 

 and accord them all the game qualities allotted by angling writers and rod users ; 

 certainly, for size, they are the ablest fighters of the seas. I had heard of them, 

 years ago, from hundreds of fishing tourists on the Western Coast of Florida, where 

 they were not found, and where they were known as the bone-fish of Biscayne Bay. 



"A fish (Elops saurus), of another family, was called on the West Coast the 



