_ 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



179 



being clearly described with the mollusca. As to the direct 

 and practical labors of the commission in shad-hatching last 

 year, 1,233,000 shad spawn were collected and 1,500,000 

 fish hatched, which were turned into the Hudson. In crossing 

 breeds, the commissioners have succeeded, by impregnating 

 the spawn of the brook trout with the milt of the California 

 salmon, in producing fish showing characteristics of both 

 parents. Their future development will be carefully studied. 

 Among numerous experiments tried was that of putting shad 

 m the v.aters running into Lake Ontario. Shad of fair size 

 have been caught iu Lake Ontario, mostly at the foot of the 

 lake, but also in the Genesee River and Sodus Bay. Last 

 year, m September, a shad of five pounds was caught and 

 sent to Mr. Selh Green for examination. The California 

 salmon arc more rarely heard from, though one of three 

 pounds was picked up dead on the banks of Oayuga Lake. 

 The California brook trout, now some three years or more 

 old, were larger, so state the commissioners, than the native 

 Saimo Jhntinaiis, and a hardier fish. This year an attempt 

 will be made to fteure their spawn. One great object of in- 

 terest to those visiting the Slate pond have been the salmon 

 trout. These fish are now from three to six years old, and 

 the largest weigh river nine pounds. Of brook trout, the 

 number of eggs collected and distributed has been over a mil- 

 lion six hundred thousand. The commissioners are Messrs. 

 Horatio Seymour, Edward Smith and Robert B. Roosevelt. 



Pistt Epidemics. — "Rover" writes from Madison, "Wis., 

 Sept. 23, that the whitefish in Lake Mendota are dying by 

 thousands, and the decaying bodies are cast up upon the 

 shore. The fish of several Western lakes and rivers have re- 

 cently perished in the same Inexplicable way. There is no 

 lack of surmised reasons for the fatality, but as yet no satis- 

 factory explanation has been adduced. The recurrence of the 

 epidemics has become a matter cf serious consideration. 

 The State Fish Commissioners should give the subject their 

 attention. Let there be a scientific investigation of the 

 waters, with an examination of the bodies of the dead fish, 

 for the purpose of detecting the presence of poison. There 

 must be a cause | intelligent work should not fail to discover 

 it. 



How He Raised His Pish. — A correspondent in Madison, 

 Georgia, thus writes us: "lam greatly interested in what 

 relates to fish and fish culture, and am indebted to the Fokest 

 and Stream for much valuable information, through which I 

 have succeeded in raising an abundauce of flue fish in my 

 ponds, which cover three acres." 



THE TAIL OF THE TADPOLE. 



HbXMOUTB, Warren Co., 111., Sept. 21, 1S78. 

 M>: Editor— In your edition ot sept. 19 there is a communication 

 signed " J. V, K.," entitled, " TUislng Tadpoles." The author contrib- 

 utes inn j aire in propagating the old error as r.o the "tad" dropping his 

 tall. It does no Eiioh thing. The tail performs the eanie duty for the 

 young frog whicli the yolk of the egg does for the chicle in the, shell. 

 They are reservoirs for the nutritive organs to draw npoa until such 

 development is readied that the creature can obtain its livelihood iu 

 the usual way. The tail floes not drop oil, but is - gradually absorbed. 

 The legs make their appearance ; the bones gro^r stronger aad stronger 

 Kiv ,i«i „.!! with the shrinking of the tall. The mouth and head in the 

 mcautime develop rapidly, and by the time the tail Is reduced by in- 

 ternal absorption to a small tubercle of shriveled-up skin, the frog 

 stands fortn in all his reptilian glory and beauty, henceforth ready for 

 business against any living thing which be can force down his capa- 

 cious throat. Get more " tads," gentlemen, and observe a little more 

 closely. Venator. 



Our correspondent is partly right, but when he compares 

 the tail of the tadpole to the egg sac in a fish, not entirely so. 

 No doubt but that the tail of the tadpole when absorbed does 

 add to the vitality of the incipient frog. Still, in this embry- 

 otic slate, the. tadpole is nearer toa fish than a frog, the caudal 

 appendage helpiDg its locomotion. The breathing apparatus 

 is really formed like the gills of a fish, with fairly deveolped 

 Imuwhuv. It is then, as " Venator" says, a popular error that 

 the tail drops off. Some time ago a wonderful paper on the 

 frog was written by St. John Myvart in Nature which was 

 exhaustive in character. 



turnl l§i8torg< 



F&r Forext and Stream and Rod and Ghin. 

 A STUDY IN INSECT LIFE. 



AKRIENDof mine, who keeps a dry-goods store in this 

 city, handed to me lately the remains of a piece of rib- 

 bon which was rolled on a cylinder of wood, in the way that 

 such goods are usually exhibited for sale in shops. This rem- 

 nant of ribbon, several yards in length, was perforated at one 

 spot through all the folds, a small circular hole having been 

 neatly drilled through. On removing the ribbon a hole cor- 

 responding in size was found in the cylinder, and in that hole 

 an insect, still living, which was evidently the mechanic in 

 the operation and the author of the mischief by which the 

 ribbon was rendered worthless. The question at once pre- 

 sented itself, how did the insect get into its present abode so 

 as to do the work ? The bolt of ribbon had been in the shop 

 more than twelve months; the piece of wood on which it was 

 rolled must have been seasoned for a considerable time before 

 it was turned and made into a cylinder. All this time — per- 

 haps two or three years— the egg, out of which the perfect 

 insect was developed, must have been advancing to maturity, 

 and had at length attained its winged state, ready to emerge 

 from its burrow. How was the egg deposited so deep iu the 



wood, and to what species of iusect did the creature belong ? 

 On examination the creature proved to he a hymenopteroua 

 inseet, belonging to the family E-tiraceridm, or "horntails," 

 as they are popularly called. The name has been suggested 

 by the circumstance that the males have a long, prominent 

 horn (or process) on the abdomen, while the females have an 

 ovipositor (made up of three pieces], which is attached to the 

 middle of the abdomen, and extends far beyond its lip. The 

 ovipositor had a sheath composed of two pieces, each of 

 which is narrowly spear-shaped, with minutely serrate blades. 

 With these a small hole is bored in the tree, and an egg is 

 laid therein, by the ovipositor proper. This accounts, in the 

 present instance, for the deposit of the horntails egg in the 

 wood of the cylinder. Afler it is hatched the larva com- 

 mences to excavate, and makes a long, cylindrical burrow, 

 which, in this instance, extended to the ribbon wrapped 

 round the wood. This is always done before going into the 

 chrysalis state, and while yet in the larval stage, though it 

 attains its winged state while yet in the tree. Now, it is a 

 curious circumstance that, in multitudes of cases, the larvasof 

 the horntails are destroyed by the operations of the ichneu- 

 mon fly iu laying its eggs. This occurs in the following way ; 

 About a year after the egg of the horutail is laid, when the 

 gnib has attained a fair size, two of the largest ichneumon 

 flies, Bhyaot atnda and Innator — species as slender as a small 

 dragon fly and armed with fine bristle- shaped ovipositor 

 nearly three inches long, thrust them into the holes made by 

 one kind of horntails, and lay their eggs in the living larvse. 

 When hatched the new-comer feeds upon the body of itshost. 

 In this way the efforts of the horntails to propagate their 

 species are kept within moderate bounds. On this side the 

 Atlantic one species called the "banded horntail " does no 

 small injury to maples, especially those planted in the streets 

 of cities ; while another, called the citnbex, commits similar 

 ravages on elms. Pine trees in England and on the conti- 

 nent of Europe often suffer great injury from the excavating 

 powers of another horntail, called the sirex gigas and juven- 

 cus. In the instance before us even ladies' ribbons were re- 

 morselessly drilled by one of these borers, as though they 

 were a piece of pine. 



The following extract from " Kirby and Spence's Introduc- 

 tion to Entomology" has a bearing on subject before us, and is 

 in itself interesting: "Mr. Stephens informs me that the fir trees 

 inaplantotion of Mr. Folyambe's, in Yorkshire, were destroyed 

 by the larvae of Sirex gigas; while those of another, belonging to 

 the same gentleman, met with a similar fate from the attacks 

 of Sirex juvencus. In proof of the ravages made by this 

 last insect Mr. Reddon exhibited to the Entomological 

 Society a portion of the wood of a fir tree from Bewdley 

 forest, of which 20 feet of its length was so perforated by its 

 larvae as to be only fit for firewood ; and being placed in an 

 outhouse, five or six of the perfect insects came out every 

 morning for several weeks. When fir trees thus attacked are 

 cut down, it often happens that ihe larvae of the species of 

 Sirex inhabiting them have not attained their full growth at 

 Ihe time the wood has been employed as the joislB or 

 planks for floors, out of which the perfect insects, even years 

 after, emerge, to the no small surprise and even alarm of the 

 inmates. An instance of this, where several specimens of 

 Sirex gigas were seen to come out of the floor of a nursery in 

 a gentleman's house to the great discomfiture of the nurse 

 and children, is related by Mr. Marsham, on the authority of 

 Sir Joseph Banks, and a similar circumstance stated by Mr 

 Ingpen, occurred in the house of a gentleman at Henlow (Bed- 

 fordshire from the joists of the floors of which whole 

 swarms, literally thousands of Sirex ifopfcr (Tbuckard) emerged 

 from innumerable holes, large enough to admit a small pencil 

 case, causing great terror to'the occupants. As the house had 

 been built about three years (the joists of British limber) 

 there could be no doubt of the larvae having been more than 

 that time iu arriving at their perfect state." 



I am unable to make out theexact name of the insect found 

 in the cylinder, but it is closely related to Sirex and Ziphydria. 

 The cylinder and ribbon came from Britain, and, as might 

 have been expected, the insect is not like any American 

 species 



The Uymmvptera is a vast order of insects, including bees, 

 wasps and their kin, hornets, ichneumon flies, the great 

 family of saw flies, gall-flies and ants. In the insects the 

 wings are four in number, transparent, membranous, the 

 veins comparatively few, nnd the hinder pah smaller than the 

 others. Their mouth is furnished with powerful horny jaws, 

 and with a tongue guarded by the modified maxillffi. The 

 females are armed with a mauv-valved sting or ovipositor. 



St. John's, New Fouridland, Aug., 1S78. M. Haktev. 



DOMESTICATION OF QUAIL. 



Stanford, Ky., Sept. 24, 1878. 

 Editob Forest and Stkkam -. 



It is with us a current belief that quail cannot be domesti- 

 cated ; but an upright and truthful gentlemaD, from that part 

 of our county called " Over the Knobs," refutes the impres- 

 sion in an account of five full grown birds which he has 

 raised this season. Seven of fifteen eggs were taken from a 

 nest and placed beneath a bantam hen. Every egg was 

 hatched, and five of the seven escaped the assaults of raven- 

 ous rats, safely passed through the multitudinous ills and dan- 

 gers incident to infantile and youthful fowlhood, and are to- 

 duy "as big as anybody's quails," the owner said. They flit 

 about the yardaud as unhesitatingly invade kitchen and dining 

 room as do any of the petted domestic fowls aud animals. 

 They spunkily assert their prerogatives by promptly appro- 

 priating a full share of all food they see thrown the chickens, 

 turkeys, ducks, pups and kittens, and as regularly repair to 

 the dining-room as do the members of the family. They have 

 bulldozed the kittens completely, and invariably provoke an 

 undignified " spat ! spat !" and scamper to quarters of safety 

 by frightfully erecting their plumage and noisily and threat- 

 eningly dashing upon the hapless possessor of a tempting tit- 

 bit. They often sally into the adjoining fields, and have been 

 seen to separate from a bevy of flushed birds and fly back into 

 the poultry yard. In imitation of the brood of chickens with 

 which they were raised, they roost in a back-yard apple-tree. 

 Suddenly startled, they oftenest dash on wing toward the 

 neighboring limber, but nearly always appear to recall the su- 

 perior protections of yard and house, and circle back to alight 

 near the door or on the porch. The novelty of their domestica- 

 tion renders them I he pels of the household, and it is Ihe inten- 

 tion to extend the care of them over another season, with hopes 

 of rearing one or more bevies in and about the poultry yard, 

 in which event they can be preserved. By the way, the seven 

 eggs abstracted from the neat were replaced by nine, and Ihe 

 old bird began sitting on seventeen, but was foully butchered 



by some feathered or four footed poacher, and from her death 

 resulted jthe destruction of the embryonic brood— no affec- 

 tionate or patriotic cock to gallantly cherish those eggs 

 through the remaining days of incubation. 



The same conscientious gentleman assured us that he found 

 a nest a few weeks ago with the shells of thirty-seven eges, 

 from which the birds bad been hatched ; and, knowing the 

 incredulity with which his yarn would generally be received 

 by strangers, confirms it by the corroboration of neighbors 

 whom he brought to the spot, aud had to verify his statement 

 by counting for themselves. If one mother attended to that 

 nest, didn't, she spread herself f 



Au old Christian farmer, who would have flagellated a quar- 

 ter section of hide off a twenty-ycars-and-eleven-months-old 

 boy of his if caught in a lie, is authority for two quails laying 

 in the same nest, which he watched da.y after day after his 

 discovery of the nest. He patiently watched first tine and 

 then the other bird visit and leave the fiest, and counted the 

 daily addition of two eggs. To-day a gentleman told us that 

 he flushed three coveys of quail at one time in his woodland 

 pasture, a mile f om town. There were seven or eight old 

 birds, and the young ones, nearly fifty in Dumber, were of 

 three distinct sizes, the smallest scarcely able to fly aud the 

 largest hut half grown. Apropos of the comtuiugling of coveys, 

 Mr. Editor, I will be obliged for your experience and informa- 

 tion as to the consolidation of fragments ot flocks in winter. 

 Opinions pro and con have not been attended by satisfactory 

 proofs, aud remain mere opinions, so far as we have heard. 



Robert White is a notoriously pugnacious gentleman, as has 

 been oberved by all old netters when two coveys are brought 

 in contact, and though perfect parental and filial harmony per- 

 vades the family circle, it is charged that, visiting neighbors, 

 or even relatives, are severely warned to scrupulously abstain 

 from crossing the dead line. Our acquaintance, who has the 

 pets, says that Robert as recklessly bristles up to rooster and 

 gobbler as the conventional bench-leg assails the passing big 

 dog, differing from the loud little dog in the. essentia] particu- 

 lar that Robert's demonstrations mean business, not bluster. 



A mi generis, living alone within one hundred yards of a 

 turnpike, thoroughfare and railroad, and wil bin ear-shot of 

 half a dozen neighbors, had a bevy of quail raised near his 

 house last year, which became so completely domesticated as 

 to recognize and regularly respond to his calls to fowls and 

 pigs, and they ran about his feet in feeding with the poultry, 

 and crowding about the pig-trough as absolutely fearless of 

 his movements as were the chickens which he had raised. 



Unole Tim says that he never saw his birds alter some "son 

 of a gun " came along one day " with a d— d bobtailed pointer 

 dog, and got to shooliu' at 'em." 



The writer has seen the domesticated wild turkey, and 

 knew a neighbor several years ago to have a nest of partridge 

 eggs hatched by a hen, but he couldn't calch enough flies and 

 small bugs — which the little fellows would seize wilh avidity 

 from his ringers ends — and they died of insufficient nourishment. 

 We have known the mallard to attach itself m the flock of do- 

 mesticated ducks and follow to the poultry-yard roost, till it 

 had become so thoroughly domesticated as to demand a share 

 Of the corncob shower, which was necessary to the protection 

 of the pigs in their evening meal of shelled corn, aud have 

 often seen the not unusual participation in poultry yard feasts 

 of many varieties of our migratory hiids, and why not the do- 

 mestication of our quail, which observation teaches is loth to 

 leave its native field so long as food and cover are adequate to 

 its moderate demands ? Kkntucki ajj . 



THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 



The friends of the Euglish sparrow are not few, nor are they 

 at all undecided in their good opinion of his value as an in- 

 sect destroyer. That the sparrow may be a blessing in one 

 place and a nuisance in another is suggested by a Bay 

 Ridge, L. I., correspondent who signs himself " Fair Play 

 for the Sparrows": 



It would not be easy to determine what is his specific nattir- 

 ral food, for he seems to be capable of living upon almost any 

 kind of aliment, and will find something io live upon under 

 almost any circumstances. In England he lives almost en- 

 tirely upon cereals aud seeds, robbing the wheat stacks aud 

 picking in the barn yard during the winter, and in the sum- 

 mer ravaging the wheat fields to such an extent that the 

 village officers very commonly pay so much per head for the 

 pests, while the farmer watches them closely with his gun. 

 In his native country the sparrow is rarely or uever known to 

 eatinsedsor worms. Iu our own cites, however, where 

 grain is not obtainable, he is certainly insectivorous. Upon 

 no other supposition can we account for the almost total dis- 

 appearance of the worm pest trom the si reet foliage of New 

 \'ork aud Brooklyn since the importation of this little brigand. 

 My own observation on three acres of thickly wooded lawn 

 furnishes daily evidence of the spanow being a deadly enemy 

 to caterpillars and insects. It is unnecessary to adopt your 

 sugge tion of e.\aruimug the contents of their stomachs, 

 when 1 can at any lime see them entering their nests wilh leaf 

 worms in their beaks. This summer three of my maples 

 were attacked by " measuring worms," one so vigorously that 

 in two or three days half ihe foliage disappeared; but as 

 quickly the sparrows were seen actively at work in the trees, 

 and the worms immediately vanished. The charge of pug- 

 nacity made against the sparrow has not been confirmed by 

 my observation of his habits. I have never seen him 

 injury to birds of " another color;" and all the species com- 

 mon to this vicinity mingle freely with him on the friendliest 

 terms. It is, however, quiie possible that his voracity and 

 large numbers leave so little food for his competitors that 

 some of them may at times find it necessary to migrate to 

 pastures he has not invaded. I am therefore disposed to con- 

 clude from a jealous observation of the little intruder, ibat, 

 in our cities aud in suburban localities, ho is a valuable ad- 

 dition to feathered society' and merits the distinguished con- 

 sideration a generous public has awarded him. Hut let him 

 once get a footing iu the farming districts: and a very different 

 reception is sure io greet him. In that ease hisoriginal grain- 

 eating instinct will be revived ; ho will forsake the worms for 

 the wheat and the seeds, and the farmers will curse him lor 

 the heavy toll he exacts from their crops. Whet) it Comes to 

 that, Ihe farmer may seek his Compi'iiR'i.i.ion by making 'he 

 sparrow in turn minister to his own appetite, for a 'well- 

 cooked sparrow pie is a dish thut an epicure will always 

 welcome as no common delicacy. 



It may be very plausibly urged also that, while quarrelsome 

 under certain eonditiqns— for instance, when the struggle for 

 subsistence is a hard one— the English bird under circum- 

 stances may live in harmony with our native birds. A. de- 



