Insects, etc., of Caledonia Cheek. 91 



It can scarcely fail of being observed, from the above statements, that nearly 

 all the fishes which are most highly prized for richness and delicacy of flavor — 

 the shad, the salmon, the trout, the white-fish, and the Otsego lake bass — are 

 those whose diet is, to a great extent, crustacean. Hence, the inference is a 

 natural one, that the Crustacea are the best food upon which fishes can feed. 



INSECTS AS FOOD FOR FISHES. 



Insects, in either their larval or perfect stages, form a portion of the food of 

 nearly all our fresh-water fishes, and a very large proportion of the food of most 

 of the species. 



Sir Humphry Davy remarks : "As a great proportion of the insects that fly, 

 walk, or crawl, are the food of fishes, a dissertation or discourse on this subject 

 would be almost a general view of natural history.'^ 



The art of fly-fishing, which has given to our libraries the delightful volumes 

 of Walton, Davy, and others, and contributed so many hours* of unalloyed hap- 

 piness to the angler and the naturalist, is an enduring attestation to the love of 

 fishes for insect food. 



The trout is preeminently an insect-loving fish. The facility with which it is 

 enticed by the artificial fly is known to all, and its leaps from the water to cap- 

 ture the insect floating on the surface or winging its way above it,f are familiar 

 to those who have had the privilege of making its acquaintance in the more 

 secluded lakes and streams of the Adirondack wilderness. The range and ex- 

 tent of its insect diet may be best shown by some extracts from a paper on 

 " The food of the Salmon, the Trout, and the Shad" prepared by D. Bar- 

 futh, of the University of Bonn.t 



An examination of the digestive organs (from the oesophagus to the anus) of 

 twenty-one specimens of the common trout of Europe (Salino fario) obtained, 

 November 25, 1873, gave as follows : 



1. Twenty-one wings of insects — mostly Neuroptera. 



2. Twenty-six parts of integuments, heads and wings of Coleoptera and 

 Orthoptera, as well as Crustaceans and Myriopods. 



3. Thirty-five tarsi and other portions of the legs of the same insects. 



4. Thirty-six larvae of Phryganidce and their cases composed of particles of 

 quartz and plants. 



No remains of fish were discovered. In some stomachs, the tolerably well- 

 preserved larvae of Sialis hilar ia were found. On one occasion I found six 

 cases of Phryganidce in a fish, and several times three or four were packed 

 closely together, so that they extended the stomach, and could be seen from the 

 outside. In some instances the larvae of these cases were well preserved." 



A later examination (20th Jane, 1874), of the stomachs and entrails of six 

 trout, caught in the Kyll, near G-erolstein, gave the following results : 



" In the first, I found four cases of Phryganidce ; in the second, I found one 

 hundred and thirty-six cases, one insect, one dragon-fly's wing, and the remains 

 of a fish ; in the third, five hundred and eighty-five (?) cases, one insect, and the 

 scale of a fish ; in the fourth, one hundred and sixteen cases, one insect and the 



* Salmonia and Consolation in Travel. London, 1840. Vol. ix, p. 152. 



t The capture of insects upon the wing by trout has been questioned ; but, in confirmation of 

 the assertion, Mr. W. W. Hill, of Albany— a gentleman who has had much experience in fly- 

 fishing, and with the eye of a thorough naturalist, has carefully studied the habits of the trout, 

 makes the following statement : " From personal observation, I am able to state, that it is a very 

 common occurrence for the speckled trout {Salmo fontinalis), during the months of June, July and 

 August, in the Adirondack region, to spring from the water and catch moths, dragon- flies, 

 ephemera, caddis-flies, and other insects flying near the surface." 



+ U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Part iii. Report for 1873-74 and 1874-75, p. 735. 



