38 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [voL. 48 
one of eleven pounds in Texas. It apparently demands a tempera- 
ture and conditions which the reef-forming coral animals require 
and sheltered brackish or fresh water for oviposition. In such locali- 
ties about Porto Rico, in February, 1899, Evermann and Marsh 
found not eggs, but very young, and there “it evidently breeds.” 
Thirteen fry, “2.25 to 3.25 inches ” long, were collected at Fajardo; 
at Hucares, “in the corner of a mangrove swamp” in “a small 
brackish pool of dark-colored water,” “entirely separated from the 
ocean by a narrow strip of land, four from 7.5 to 11.5 inches long 
were seined.”’ The smallest previously known was about nine inches 
long. All these are probably the young of the first year. 
The very young or larvze will doubtless be found to be, like those of 
Elops and Albula, elongate ribbon-like animals of translucent and 
colorless texture, with a very small head and small fins. They are 
probably so transparent that their eyes alone are apparent in the 
water unless a very close examination is made. The youngest of 
the specimens (2.25 inches long) observed by Evermann and Marsh, 
were probably not long before developed from the larval condition. 
Such are the little fishes to be looked for as the very young of the 
great tarpon. 
Most of the large tarpons caught along the coasts of Florida and 
the Southern states have attained full maturity; of such the length 
is about six feet, and the weight approximates one hundred pounds ; 
they are probably nearly or over three years old. Growth, however, 
is continued in some much beyond the average, one of three hundred 
and eighty three pounds, it is claimed, having been harpooned. 
WILT 
“The silver-king is the greatest of game fishes.” So declare 
Evermann and Marsh, and they echo the belief of many. Volumes 
and countless articles in periodicals have been devoted to detail of 
its excellencies. Its activity and gameness are proportioned to its 
size. The northern salmon affords tame sport compared with the 
“ silver-king.” Those of the average full-grown size (six feet long 
and one hundred pounds in weight) are caught in numbers with 
the rod and line; one weighing two hundred and twenty-three 
pounds closes for the time the record of feats with the rod, and it 
took the captor “three hours and a half before it was brought to 
gaff.” 
The tarpon is now considered to have little or no edible value. 
It has, indeed, been declared by Schomburgk to be “considered a 
delicate eating”? in Barbados, and in the United States has been 
experimented with occasionally ; one (W. H. Burrall) who did so in 
