388 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



4fi3ft §ult,qe. 



This .Intiriinl is Hie Official Organ of the Fish Ciiltnr- 

 ists' Association. 



PROF. BAIRD'S REPORT. 



DtFFEKHKT METHODS OF MULTIPLYING FISH. 



As far as the actual multiplication of fish is concerned, 

 we have to deft] especially wi ill four principal methods. 

 The first, and simplest, consists in transferring fish of both 

 sexes, whether mill young and requiring further growth, or 

 fully mature, and especially at about the period of their 

 spawning, from one locality to another, where they can 

 make themselves at home, and in duo course of time in- 

 crease and multiply. This method has been more espe- 

 cially practiced in'the United States in the case of black 

 oaRS, pickerel, piko perch, yellow perch, alewil'c, or I'resh 

 water herring, the brook trout, etc., and to some extent, 

 iudeed, the while fish, or Coregnnua albim, and, indeed, is 

 almost the only method by which it is possible satisfacto- 

 rily to accomplish the desired object; the efforts of pisci- 

 culturists not having been very successful in impregnating 

 the eggs (excepting with the white fish) and hatching them 

 our. although there would be no particular .difficulty in re- 

 gard to the alewil'c. 



A second method, quite similar to the first, consists in 

 simply collecting and penning up the mature fish in a suit- 

 able iiiclosure at the time of spawning, and keeping them 

 Until the operation of reproduction is accomplished, but 

 without taking any special charge of the eggs themselves. 



The third is that especially practiced by the Chinese, of 

 collecting the fertilized spawn, after it is laid, either by 

 gai lining it from localities under the water where it has 

 adhered, or by straining it out while floating. The first 

 method is in some instances assisted by introducingbunches 

 of or.ier brush into the water frequented by the gravid fish, 

 so as to furnish convenient objects of adhesion, and such 

 as can be readily handled for the purpose of removing the 

 eggs from them. The eggs thus secured may then be 

 transferred to any given locality and allowed to hatch natu- 

 rally; or else beds are artificially prepared and attended 

 until the biith of the young, when these are either allowed 

 to escape into the water at once, or else Uiey are fed for a 

 short time and then consigned to the pouds or streams 

 which it is desired to stock. 



All these methods are inferior in convenience as well as 

 in economical results to the fourth, which is adopted by 

 most fish cnlturists throughout the world, This consists 

 in taking up the fish when ripe, and, by suitable manipu- 

 lation, in pressing out eggs from the body of the female 

 into a dish, and theu by repeating the operation with the 

 male, so as to force theseminal fluid into the same vessel, 

 in some cases the eggs and milt are stirred together in a 

 certain amount of water; in others, what is called the dry 

 method is adopted, a discovery usually credited to a Rus- 

 sian, M. Vrasski, in which no water is used with the eggs, 

 but the milt is slightly diluted with water and poured upon 

 them. By this method a much larger proportion of eggs 

 is impregnated. The movements preliminary to this treat- 

 ment of the eggs taken from the living fish are very varied. 

 In many instances a careful watch is kept over localities 

 where the fish are likely to spawn; and when the experi- 

 enced observer notices that the operation of spawning is 

 about to take place, he captures the usually inattentive 

 pair by means of nets or other suitably constructed appa- 

 ratus, and proceeds with the work of exclusion and fertili- 

 zation. Tins is said to be the principal method by which 

 the eggs of the salmon are obtained in Germany and else- 

 where for the national and private establishments, and is 

 liable to the disadvantage of great uncertainty, and to a 

 dependence upon conditions of the atmosphere and of the 

 water that may materially interfere with the general result. 

 Moet of the doings in connection with the hatching of shad 

 are of this nature; the seine being swept at a suitable lo- 

 cality, and the fertile fish stripped of their eggs and milt. 

 This operation is always fatal to the shad, their delicacy of 

 constitution no*, enduring such rough handling with impu- 

 nity. It has also been adopted in some casus for salmon, 

 having been adopted by Mr. Livingston Stone in obtaining 

 their eggs during the season of 1872. 



A much more satisfactory and efficient method consists 

 in inclosing the fish iu pens or pounds until their eggs and 

 milt are sufficiently matured to allow the process of arti- 

 ficial fecundation to be initialed. With trout such an in- 

 Closure is usually permanent, but for salmon it is generally 

 temporary. This treatment is also adopted with the white- 

 fish which are taken in the Detroit River in the Full of the 

 year, while running up to spawn from the deep water of 

 the lake, placed in enclosures for marketing purposes, and 

 kept there for sale, from time to time, during the Winter. 

 Indirectly, under these circumstances, they furnish the 

 opportunity for artificial impregnation and hatching on a 

 very large 'scale. 



The simplest mode of obtaining salmon for the purpose 

 in question is that adopted by Mr. Samuel Wilmot, at New 

 Castle, Ontario. This gentleman, observing a few years 

 ago that a few salmon were in the habit of coming up a 

 s wall stream to a favorite spawning ground, conceived the 

 idea of penning them up as to control them during the 

 period of reproduction, lie accordingly built a house over 

 it bastn in which they collected, or adjacent to the spawn- 

 ing ground, and erected a dam below it, so that after they 

 bad passed above a gate could be dropped and the fish im- 

 prisoned. In this way he has been able to secure a large 

 number of salmon, and with them has carried out, for the 

 most part, his labors in connection with salmon hatching. 



A more feasible method, and one which can be conducted 

 out on a much larger and more efficient scale, is that now 

 practiced by Mr. Charles G. Atkins at Bucksport. This 

 .consists in securing the living salmon by auy means at his 

 coiiiiiifiiei, the must ready being' their purchase at the sal- 

 mon weirs at the mouth of the I'enobscot River, where 

 Ahcy are taken in considerable numbers and kept alive for 

 Any length of time. These are brought iu suitable floating 

 cars to Bucksport, transported on trucks to the hatching 



. iMi lniic-nt, and placed in a pond of about 150 acres, 

 where they liud ample room for their movements. 



ready explained, it is not necessary to provide the 

 breeding salmon with food, since they do not take it dur- 

 ing the spawning season; and they exist for the several 

 mouth.-, necessary to retain tkeni with comparatively little 

 mortality. Mr. Atkins' experiment was initiated ,iu 1871. 

 Iu 1872 he had nearly GOO fish by the 1st of July, of which 

 yery few were lost. ' In the months of October and No- 



vember he took from these fish 1,500,000 eggs, very few of 

 the fish being injured in the process. They were then 

 placed in the water and permitted to return to the sea, the 

 precaution being taken to affix a metallic tag correspond- 

 ing to the number, weight, and sex of the fish, and the 

 date as recorded, so that if recaptured at any time some 

 idea might be gained of their rate of growth, movements, 

 and migrations. 



The eggs thus obtained, whether of salmon or of trout, 

 are hatched out iu contrivances which vary with the kind 

 of fish, and which will be more especially referred to here- 

 after. Suffice it to say that those of shad arc hatched in 

 boxes which float on the water of the stream adjacent to 

 the camp where the fish are captured and fertilized; this 

 being accomplished within a week, and after a further de- 

 tention of a few days, or until the yolk bag is absorbed, 

 they are turned into the middle of the stream at night 

 while the predacious fish are most quiet or lying near the 

 shore, and soon find hiding places for themselves. 



The eggs of salmon and trout require a period of from 

 two to four months for development, this being in the Win- 

 ter season. This process consists in placing them in boxes, 

 with the bottom composed of parallel glass slats or of solid 

 boards, lined with gravel, over which water of uniform 

 temperature is allowed to flow continuously until the ex- 

 clusion of the young takes place. Sometimes trays are 

 used with wire gauze bottoms, either singly or in tiers, and 

 the water caused to flow either from above dowowurd or 

 the reverse. After this the young are sometimes trans- 

 ferred to some other receptacle until the yolk bag is ab- 

 sorbed, when they are cither introduced into rivers and 

 streams or else retained in ponds and fed artificially for a 

 greater or less length of time. 



The key note to the treatment of the anadromous fish 

 lies in the now well established axiom that each will al- 

 ways endeavor to return to spawn, if possible, to the very 

 spot where it was first introduced into the water as a young 

 fish, and that it will make every effort to accomplish this 

 result; sometimes incurring even loss of life by persistent 

 labor to this end. This is fully believed by all who have 

 given attention to the subject, and iu this we have the 

 guarantee of success in any attempt to stock a particular 

 body of water. It is true that the labor would in many 

 cases be a profitless task, since the reaper might be, as al- 

 ready explained, and probably would be, a party having 

 no interest iu common with the sower. So universal, how- 

 ever, is the principle just enunciated, that we are assured 

 that if three streams empty into the same bay on the coast, 

 or are tributary to the same principal river, and all are 

 equally eligible for the maintenance of anadromous fish, 

 although destitute of them, one of these may be stocked 

 and abouud with fish, while the others which have been 

 neglected will be almost entirely uuvisited, or will possibly 

 beeomo supplied very slowly and after along period of 

 time. 



— The Massachusetts Anglers' Association has now about 

 550 members. 



^»» 



—The Hon. E. A. Bracken and Benjamin P. Ware of 

 Marblehead addressed the Boston Anglers' Association, 

 Wednesday evening, last week. Regarding the preserva- 

 tion of deep sea fishing, Mr. Ware said that trawling would 

 ultimately exterminate the cod, haddock and pollock fish- 

 cries on our coasts. The evil of mackerel seining was also 

 mentioned. 



— The American Geographical Society held their annual 

 meeting at the hall of the Historical Society, New York, 

 on Tuesday evening, the President, Hon. C. P. Daly, in 

 the chair. The Uon. Robert B. Roosevelt addressed the 

 Society on "The Geographical Distribution of Fish in the 

 United Slates." 



Natural Jjjiutorg. 



For FO¥88t aud Stream. 

 THE POMPANO, (BntkroUpnimiiompii/iiu,) IIolbuook. 

 THE CAVALLI, or CREVALLE, {(Mnuu- 

 defensor,) DkKav. 



<k ■ * ' 



THE above are certainly distinct species, though prob- 

 ably belonging to the" same family. The first is a bot- 

 tom fish, solitary, and usually taken at night with nets, 

 rarely lakes the'hook, and seldom reaches three pounds in 

 weight. 



The cavalli goes iu schools on or near the surface, takes 

 bait troll, or red rag, with eagerness, and grows to the 

 weight of ten or twelve pounds. 



The pompuno on the tabic is one of the most delicious of 

 fishes, being both rich and delicate. The cavalli is dry and 

 tasteless, like the dolphin. The two species much resemble 

 each other, and are often confounded. Even so accurate a 

 writer as Holbrook does so. 



The principal structural differences are these: In the 

 pompauo the first dorsal is represented by six spines, the 

 snout is truncated, the mouth rather small and toothless. 

 The cavalli has two dorsal fins, a sharper snout and a larger 

 mouth, with conical pointed teeth. In color, both are 

 changeable, the prevailing colors of the pompano being blue 

 aud silver.thoseof the cavalli green and gold. Both are very 

 brilliant fishes. That the pompano will sometimes take 

 the hook, I know, having taken one of two and a half 

 pounds weight, with clam bait while fishing for sheepshead 

 on the bottom, near Mosquito Inlet, East Florida. 



Our boatman, who had fished those witters for twenty 

 years or more, said it was the first pompano he had ever 

 seen taken with the hook there — the cavalli we used to take 

 almost every day in April, and he pointed out the difference 

 between the two species at once. He also said that they 

 spawned at different periods. My single specimen was a 

 most active uud vigorous fish, and gave as much light for 

 his size as any fish I ever killed. When, however, read of 

 pompanos being taken with the hook in great numbers, of 

 their jumping into boats, and of their occurrence as far 

 North as Holme's Hole, I think the cavalli is the fish indi- 

 cated. S. C. Clarke. 



—The sum of $75,000 was paid out for sponges in Key 

 West during the months of November and December last 

 year. 



THE GRAYLING. 



i Forest t 



I enchu 



NOCVKl.LF., BoNAVENTtTUK, | 



Canada, January !), 1875. f 

 i Stream:— 



b dorsal fin of a grayling which I caught in the river 

 Terne, in Shropshire, England, about eighteen months ago. It is a cel- 

 ebrated place for this fish, and the Leintoourdine Club, which controls 

 this river, is very exclusive, so that the flsh as a rule are larse and plen- 

 tiful. Please compare it with the Michigan Hsu, and kindly inform me 

 whether they are identical, or only similar. Grayling are a very gamey 

 fish, und I should like to see them introduced into this neighborhood. 

 Yours iruly, Capt. ,1. M. C, 



We thank you for the grayling fin. We have never seen 

 one before, and are glad to compare it with that of the 

 American grayling, which lies before us. We sent one of 

 the latter to the London Field some months ago, by whose 

 editors it was compared with theirs, and the points of dif- 

 ference noted. These are very decided. We.reprint from 

 Fouest and Stream of August 13th the statement as trans- 

 ferred from the columns of the Field: — 



"The fish shows some (nullifications which are very distinct from our 

 grayling. The eye is much fuller, rounder and more prominent; in the 



British gruyling this '..-. loy.ei i gc-sha |n <] and ■■topi r,« buck, a pcculitint v 



which the artist could hardly fall to remark The dorsal tin, though 

 large in our grayling, is very large in the Michigan one. The anal tin, 

 loo, is much more extended uud lengthy, and tnc ventral tin- longer and 

 more lance head shaped. The stmts, too, only extend to half uuv along 

 the dorsal tin, when-as in ours they rtm la the Whole engtti of the Ush: 

 aud the description of the colors shows them to be more brilliant, va- 

 ried and marked. In fact there is very little doubt that the .Michigan 

 grayling is not uur grayling.'' 



IS THE CANADIAN SEA TROUT A BROOK 

 TROUT? 



Editor Foeebt and Stream :— 



1 hilly agree with your observing correspondent. Mr. S. C. Clarke, that 

 "there is much difference in opinion among those wdio have written on 

 thin subject." Hamilton Smith, I think, wit limit a scientific description, 

 gave it the specific name of Canadensis. Mr. Perley, also without giviu&r 

 its Bpecilic characteristics, refer* it to 5. India, a species common to the 

 Noith of Europe, und entirely different. Norris, in his "American An- 

 gler's Book." tried to establish it us a new species, and succeeded for the 

 time, as be thought, iu doing so, according it the specific name given by 

 Hamilton Smith. Now, Mr. Editor, and you, Mr. Clarke, and reader* 

 generally or the "American Angler's Hook," us a prelude to an acknowl- 

 edgement of my error, and before I "come down," let mc give you au 

 account of the various phases under which I have since seen this fish, 

 and thus show why I hove gradually changed my convictions. 



I had been told by my canoernea that they had never seen a tront 

 without spots, but the very next Summer after issuing the first edition 

 of my hook, I found on the Nepissiguit, in June, trout without the 

 Bemblance or vestige of a red spot, with perfectly bright silvery sides; 

 some of them not longer tnan eight inches, and no "linger marks," as it- 

 usual on brook trout of that size. In July, 1869, when with Br, Wood, of 

 Pougbkeepsie, I explored the Grand Cascapediac to find the pools where 

 the huge salmon of tbat river rise to the fly, we also found trout, some 

 of them weighing four pounds, without spots, and as bright as the fresh 

 run silver-sided salmon . They were the finest fish I ever ate; did not cloy 

 after feeding on them a few' days, and no bad cooking of our Kestii;oiiclie 

 Indians could spoil them. We frequently ate cold "hunks" of them af- 

 ter coming iu from our evening's, salmon fishing. These were trout 

 fnsfi fun/rein the zed, where their food had, to a great extent, been the 

 same which gives the salmon its flavor and delicacy. Iu the early part of 

 the same Summer I made theacquainiunee of Mr. Venning. Inspector of 

 the New Brunswick Fisheries, who told me that, in his estimation, I had 

 not established .S. I'aiuidenxis as a species different from -V. FoiUinalin, 

 and suggested thut I should take trout frequently during my trip and ob- 

 serve how this bright-sided flsh grew darker later in the season and 

 higher up the rivers, and how from indistinct spots it at last el jthed it- 

 self in those of bright vermillion, with the orange colored belly of the 

 brook trout. Mr. Venning was the only intelligent, close observer of 

 this fish, in all its changes of hues, 1 had ever met with, and becoming 

 skeptical ns to there being two species, I was anxious to correct any er- 

 ror 1 might buve made by a single Summer's observation Of this flsh 

 some years before- 

 After leaving the Grand Cascapediac I fished for trout in the neighbor- 

 hood of Dalhousic, iu the Jucquet, aud later in tbe season on the Nep- 

 issiguit. Ou the last named river, about eight miles from Its mouth, u 

 small stream, known as thePahineau, enters, after passing through some 

 long, still pools, bordered by water grasses aud lily pads. This is a IV 

 nious place for trout in August. Here I took theu) of all shades, gener- 

 ally the deeply tinted among the lily pads, and the brighter, fresh run 

 nail at Its swift outlet into the Nepissiguit. At the end of my Sum- 

 mer's fishing I was thoroughly convinced that the sea trout is tt brook 

 trout— our old friend S. funiinalix— that its habitat, for the time being, 

 and its food, effects all the changes in Its tints. 



So of course I cannot now ugree with Mr. Clarke "that the brook 

 trout makes its permanent home iu fresh water, aud that "the" sea trout 

 IS Hiiudromoua" in the some sense in which we regard the salmon. There 

 is no telling how long those without spots had been at sea, or in the salt 

 estuaries or bays feeding on pretty much the same kind of food that sal- 

 mon do; no telliug how long it lakes for a sea trout to clothe itself in the 

 bright spotB and hues of the brook trout, but I conclude rrom my obser- 

 vations here recorded that they are one and the same Ush, 



The matter of food, as all will admit, has much to do with the migra- 

 tion of animals, terrestial and aquatic, and the brook trout acts up to its 

 Instinct in deserting its native stream, where food is aearcc iu Winter, 

 and for the time becoming a sea trout. Aud although really the. same 

 species, 1 consider the local names <"soa trout" when 1 rush run, and 

 "brook" or "river trout" when they have been up some time) as quite 

 appropriate. 



Cavalli, or Pompano. —In answer to "B.'Hackle"-The fl-h depleted 

 by Norris is colled by both names in the New Orleans mftrbli 

 doin by the former amongst the Creole fishermen, aud almost exclusively 

 by the Americans by the latter name. 



Fbost Fish.— In answer to a query by "G. T)."— I have always heard 



the frost fish, which come, in October and November into the rapid* 



of the inleta connecting the Sarauac hikes to spawn, spoken of as a small 



specimen of Coreyonun—i. e., white flsh. Tuadukcb Norris. 



■♦♦♦ 



— The Des Moiues (Iowa) ReijixttT says that among the 

 curiosities presented by the California salmon planted in 

 the Des Moines Hiver at that place-, Wednesday, weresoiuo 

 malformations singular enough for a cabinet of wonders. 

 General Baker has some of them preserved in alcohol. 

 One fish has two heads, one has two tails, one is double 

 beth in head and tail, but has only a single body. One 

 was shaped almost precisely like a California black cricket, 

 having four litis fashioned like legs, aud anleunaj instead of 

 sills. 



■»♦*■ 



— Vinal N. Edwards, of Wood's Hole, Muss;,, has, flUrlBg 

 the past two years, collected for the Smithsonian Institute 

 at Washington, 117 different varieties offish, iucludiug 

 several species never before taken on this coast. 



—A countryman from the interior uf the State ate so 

 many clams the other day, at Fulton Market, that it 

 caused his stomach to rise aud fall with the tide. 



