ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1215 



great abundance in the lake. Four varieties of 

 sunfishes, yellow bass, rock bass, white perch 

 and mud fish, as well as turtles that had been 

 taken in the various hauls of the seine and held 

 in live cars awaitina: shipment were included. 

 Specimens of the large alligator snapping tur- 

 tles which are found in this region were also 

 sent to the Aquarium and still remain interest- 

 ing members of the collection. The long-nosed 

 gars (Lcpisnsfciis osseiis) were taken in almost 

 every haul and were more easily liandled and 

 lived much better in the live cars than did the 

 giant gars. 



It was brought to the attention of the writer 

 by several of the fishermen in the locality that 

 gars were known to have been dug up in the 

 mud and that, when the caked mud was washed 

 ofif, were found to be in good condition. Avail- 

 ing myself of this information I packed a gar. 

 encased entirely in mud, in a box just a trifle 

 larger than the dimensions of the fish itself. 

 This was shipped to the Aquarium, but on ar- 

 rival was found to be dead and from all appear- 

 ances had been dead for some little time. It 

 may be that the fish has to accommodate itself 

 naturally to this comatose state. However, the 

 mud had settled during shijiment and a part of 

 the animal was exposed. This may have had 

 something to do with the defeat of the experi- 

 ment. 



There was no difliculty in locating the gars. 

 owing to their habit of rising to the surface and 

 taking in air which is liberated in bubbles at 

 intervals, after the gars have gone down into 

 deeper water. Walking slowly along the shores 

 of the lake one can watch for the bubbles ris- 

 ing to the surface and thus follow the track 

 of the gars. This method of locating giant gars 

 seems to be never failing .ind obviates many 

 fruitless casts. 



Some specimens were taken which measured 

 over eight feet, but it was very difficult, after 

 capture, to keep them alive in the live-cars as 

 they were much weakened by the terrible fight 

 which they put up in their capture. ^lany sets 

 of the net were made and a number of gars en- 

 compassed but repeatedly they would bite their 

 way through the seine. 



The seine in which the gars are captured is 

 two and one quarter miles long, made of thread 

 about l/is of an inch thick, woven in meshes of 

 about four inches and is used for the capture 

 of spoon-bill catfishes. The net is laid out from 

 a small barge or scow which is towed by a 

 motor boat and reaches across the lake and back, 

 making a spread of about one quarter of a mile. 

 It is drawn in by motor power and eight men 



are required in laying it out and drawing it in; 

 which operation takes about three hours. 



When the specimens are encompassed and the 

 net drawn in, a large dory is filled with water 

 and held at the outside of the net, the side of 

 the dory being pressed down under the water 

 so that the giant gars can be rolled into it from 

 the net to avoid possible bruising. The water 

 is frequently renewed in the dory, and the gun- 

 wale is kept about six inches above the surface 

 and attached to the scow until the day's fishing 

 is completed. The gars are taken to a mooring 

 and either placed in a live-car or held in the 

 dory until shipped, in which case the water has 

 to be frequently changed to prevent it becoming 

 too warm. The changing of the water, how- 

 ever, has very little to do with the keeping of 

 the gars as they continually rise to the surface 

 for air, but sufficient room is necessary to jier- 

 mit the specimens to rise and return comfort- 

 ably. 



On examining the stomachs of several alliga- 

 tor gars I found calico bass, small buffalo fishes, 

 white perch, sunfishes and frogs. The above 

 varieties seem to be their principal diet. 



The gar has very strong jaws — so powerful 

 in fact that when it seizes the net, with a vigor- 

 ous twist of the body it can go completely 

 through it; tearing a hole of sufficient size to 

 allow its escape. The negroes engaged in the 

 work at Moon Lake claim that an infuriated 

 gar has a strength of twenty horse-power, and 

 when we take into consideration that the net 

 through which he can go so easily is made of 

 tarred cord almost an eighth of an inch in diam- 

 eter, this contention has some basis of fact. 



AQUARIUINI NOTES. 



Tarpon from New York Bay. — During the 

 summer the Aquarium exhibited two living tar- 

 pons about four and a half feet in length, which 

 were captured in pound nets at Belford, N. .!., 

 in the lower part of New York Bay. Both spec- 

 imens were injured in capture and neither lived 

 as long as two weeks. The average commercial 

 fisherman is not a good collector of live speci- 

 mens and seldom handles fishes with the care 

 necessary to insure satisfactory living exhibits. 

 The trained Aquarium collector can bring hun- 

 dreds of fishes from Florida or Bermuda with 

 a loss in transit of little more than five per cent, 

 and the specimens often live in captivity for 

 several years. 



