135 
hand which I wrote to a party to know whether they had 
any fish caught at their station (Newport). This letter 
states that there have been only seven caught on account 
of the flood, all small male shad about two and a half 
pounds apiece. Mr. Rogers I presume will explain that 
from the fact that the females follow the male. 
Mr. Rocers—They got them in a dip net. Shad keep 
out in the current and these dip nets are on the shore ; 
that would account for the small quantity caught. The 
male fish both in salmon and shad, go ahead of the 
females ; the females come up later. 

THE SUSQUEHANNA. 
ifs PAST, PRESENT AND. FUTURE: 
By A. F. CLapp. 
Tue Pennsylvania Canal Company commenced build- 
ing dams as feeders to its system about the year 1826. 
Previous to that time the Susquehanna River had been 
one of the most prolific for at least three species of ana- 
dromous fishes, the shad, the herring and the striped 
bass or rock fish, as good fishes of commercial value as 
any of the Atlantic coast series, and besides these there 
was an abundance of non-migratory species which fur- 
nished ample food for the dwellers along and in the 
Vicinity of its shores. From the time of the erecting of 
these obstructions commenced the gradual decline of all 
species and the total loss to all dwellers above of all the 
migratory tribes except the eel, which found its way 
through rifts and crevices. Soon other factors of de- 
struction became operative, notably soils washed in from 
cultivated lands, and later, the immense quantities of 
debris from the anthracite coal fields which now covers 
the bed of the river in all pools and eddies, to the almost 
total destruction of the natural spawning grounds and 
