16 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



"Spray" and Mr. Jonea, on Ihe sixth we took private con- 

 veyance, only to pass them on the. way. 



At Homosassa we spent a month, the memory of which 

 ■will linger many a day. We found it all that "Al Fresco" 

 has described and more. Though wandering for many 

 years in many climes, it was never before our good fortune 

 to combine at once, in the same place, the finest sporting 

 and the cointorts of a refined home. Though rather early 

 in the season for ducks, there were large numbers of them 

 in Salt river and some of the back creeks, affording good 

 shooting. The sheepshead fishing was very fine, and 

 whenever we could prevail on "Fifteenth Amendment 

 Dick," who still flourishes, though rather in a dilapidated 

 and indolent style, to bring us two or three crabs for bait, 

 we were quite sure on the ebb tide of a hundred pound or 

 more of splendid fellows at the Sheepshead Stake. 



Some ot our family found excellent sport with the fly, 

 and devoted most of "their time to that amusement. No 

 less than seven kinds of fish took the common trout fly 

 freely— black bass, sea trout, skip jacks, channel bass, 

 cavalti, snapper and bream; and it would be well for any 

 one intending to visit this locality, to provide themselves 

 with a good trout rod and an assortment of flies. We also 

 found the trolling excellent, and lor this sport think no 

 spoon equal to the largest sized Buel, of Whitehall, New 

 York. 



(Jhristmas was spent at Thompson's, on the edge of the 

 Big Hammock, and on the day succeeding a grand deer 

 huut, with hounds and on horseback, was organized for 

 our benefit. A more exciting and delightful day we never 

 experienced, and a goodly number ot ileer and turkeys re- 

 warded our efforts. Game of all kiuds is very abundant 

 here, and the Hammock dry, open, and in every way the 

 finest ground for hunting we ever went over. Certainly 

 not lesB than fifty deer were started up during the hunt. 



At leaving, which we weie compelled by circumstances 

 to do much sooner than we desired, we lcit that we were 

 parting from old friends and home. Often uo we recall 

 ihose delightful evening circles after dinner, in ihe sitting- 

 room — the open fire-place piled high with fragrant red 

 cedar logs, the piano responding to the skilllul touch of 

 Miss li., some reading, fly-making, or planning expeditious, 

 How happy we were when we retired to our snowy beds, 

 to dream of home and loved ones, and huae piles of snow 

 ana ice; nor yet those luscious oranges, and those delici- 

 ous buckwheat cakes, wkicli, moliticu with Florida syl'up, 

 we used to punish so each moruiug. But all things must 

 have an end, and one line day we found ourselves hack in 

 .Philadelphia, blown as a nut, twenty pounds the heavier, 

 and wilii an appetite and digestion able to cope with — 

 well, almost anything. Long may you wave, dear Homo- 

 sassa. \V. H, L, 



ABSTRACT OF THE REPORT OF THE 

 COMMISSIONERS OF FISHERIES OF 

 THE STATE OF WISCONSIN FOR THE 

 YEAR 1876. 



THE amount appropriated for the uses of the Commis- 

 sioners last year was $10,000, and the Commission 

 was reorganized by adding to it Mr. H. F. Dousmau as a 

 member, and the Governor also as a member ex agieio. 

 After organizing the first duty was to purchase a site for a 

 Hatching House. After a full examination of those offered, 

 the Commission, with entire unaniinily, selected the 

 grounds known as the ''Nine Springs," in the town of 

 Fitchburg, on section 3, and located about three miles 

 southwest from the West Madison depot. It is claimed 

 for this that it cannot be excelled by any of the Slates pro- 

 vided with Commissioners. The number of springs, the 

 fall, and their close proximity to each other, are alt that 

 could be desired. There is an abundance of water, 

 pure and cold, and the fall in some of them upwards of 

 twenly feet, is such that there is no danger from surface or 

 hack-water. The Commission did not require the quantity 

 of land purchased, but were compelled to take the tract 

 in order to secure the springs. Private parties would 

 gladly have taken the purchase at a much higher figure 

 than that paid by the Stale, and to be used lor the pur- 

 pose of fish culture. Its aduptatiou lo such purposes is 

 nil that could be asked. 



The hatching houses, tenements, etc., were all immedi- 

 ately built and equipped, and a temporary hatching house 

 established at Milwaukee for the hatching of spawn of 

 the white-fish and lake trout; the authorities of that city 

 having very kindly granted adequate space in the water 

 works for that purpose. The propagation of the white-fish 

 must always constitute the leading object of the Commis- 

 sion, and the slocking of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan 

 and Green Bay, will be kept steadily in view. The hatching 

 house at Madison, is designed exclusively for stocking 

 inland lakes, rivers and streams with the varieties of fish 

 suited to their waters. 



The hatching house, of which Mr. D. Comstock was 

 made Superintendent, hes a capacity of 1,OUO,000 salmon 

 eggs and double that number of brook trout. In October 

 80,000 California salmon ova were placed in the troughs, 

 and upwards of UO per cent, of strong healthy fry Latched. 

 For breeding purposes the Commissioners have in their 

 ponds 2,000 speckled trout over two years old and averag- 

 ing half a pound each. Over 100,000 eggs have already 

 heen taken from them. The ponds also contain 000 Cali- 

 fornia salmon one year old, 1,000 Penobscot and 2,000 

 landlocked salmon, all intended for breeders. 



Referring again to the site selected the Commissioners 

 think, all things considered, that they have a very superior 

 situation for tneir purposes, and one of the very best of 

 hatching houses. The Madison lakes are among the finest 

 bodies of inland waters in the northwest. The spriug.< 

 upon which the buildings are located empty their waters 

 into a large bay lying north of Waubcsa and Second Lake, 

 and with that bay, the entire chaiu of lakes of the four 

 lake country is connected. From the hatching house 

 springs and without ever taking the fry from the ponds iu 



which they are bred, they can stocrt nearly 21,000 acres of 

 water. Being equidistant between Lake Michigan and 

 the Mississippi, with the railroad facilities at hand, they 

 can easily reach all the settled parts of the State, and find 

 ready acecss to their inland streams and rivers and almost 

 numberless lakes. For the most part these streams and 

 lakes are adapted to the habits and wauts of great varieties of 

 food fish, and when properly stocked in connection wilh the 

 other inland waters of the Stale must materially increase 

 the food resources of the people wilh a most healthful ar- 

 ticle of diet. 



The Commissioners have placed in working order, twenty 

 of the Ilatton hatching boxes, with a hatching capacity of 

 10.000,000 white fish eggs, and now have in them, in pro- 

 cess of hatching, upwards of 7,000,000 of the while fish 

 spawn. There are also twenty-four troughs, twelve inches 

 wide and sixteen feet long, with a hatching capacity for 

 nearly 4,000,000 salmon trout spawn. They have now in ihese 

 troughs nearly 2,000,000 of the eggs of Ihe trout. The spawn 

 of the white fish was taken at Detroit river, Escanaba and 

 Sangalon, and those of the trout at Milwaukee. By com- 

 bining with other parties they were euabled to greatly 

 facilitate and forward their own labor. The following 

 named gentlemen co-operate with the Commission in the 

 taking of salmon trout eggs, and secure t.he number named: 

 N. K. Faitbank, for Geneva Lake. 000,000; B. T. Shaw, 

 for State of Iowa, 900,000; G. II. Jerome, for Slate of 

 Michigan, 1,000,000; Seth Green, for the State of New 

 York, 500,000. 



The Commissioners are now maturing a plan for the dis- 

 tribution of fry by which every portion of Hie Slate will 

 be dealt justly by. In the distribution of the fry of the 

 speckled trout, and which is confined to local streams, 

 they have adopted the rule that iu all such cases the owners 

 of the land through which such streams run, must, in 

 order to obtain them, give a written permit to the public 

 to allow the trout to be taken, subject to the fish laws of 

 the State. This precaution will remove all causes of com- 

 plaint on the score of partiality. Of this variety of fish 

 they hope to have large numbers for the season of 1877. 



The Commissioners complain that with the different 

 Legislative enactments and the power conferred on coun- 

 ties to regulate the taking of fish, it is difficult lo determine 

 what the law really is. They hope this winter to secure a 

 better understanding in this matter, in order that laws in- 

 tended for the proleclion of fish maybe more geneially 

 understood and more efficiently enforced. A brief resume 

 of the operations of the U. B. Commission and those of 

 other States is given, with statistics showing what has been 

 and may be accomplished. An appropriation of $10,000 

 for the current year is asked for. 



CARE OF YOUNG TROUT IN THE 

 HATCHING-HOUSE. 



N0MPEJR TEN. 



* Continued from April ilt/i, 1870. 



WHEN first disengaged from Ihe egg, the young trout 

 presents a singular uncouth appearance. It is only 

 a fish in outline, and really but partially hatched. A thin 

 translucent line three-fourths of an inch iu length, oue 

 end pointed, ihe other grotesquely knobby and irregular, 

 furnished with two unseemly eyes widely distant, compose 

 the body of the fish. Attached to half the lower portion 

 of the halchling, from the throat backwards, is an un- 

 shapely large transparent bag covered with a delicate net- 

 work of blood-vessels, llircugh which the .vital fluid may 

 be seen coursing towards a diminulivo red specie — the 

 heart of ihe tiny creature. No traces of fins are to be 

 seen, except, the pectorals, save a cartilaginous fringe 

 which extends backwards from the middle of the back, 

 over the caudal extremity, thence forward beneath, to a 

 union with the sac. The gilt covers are wanting, and four 

 lines on each side of the neck, outline the future gills. 

 The movements of the fish are slow and exceedingly awk- 

 ward, borne down as ii is by this singular appendage, ans- 

 wering to the umbilical vessels— belter known as the yolk- 

 sac. The teeth are wauting and the mouth is low down 

 underneath, and slowly gains its normal posilion at Ihe 

 extremity of the head. The yolk-sac, that might seem at 

 first an unnecessary burden, is of vital importance physio- 

 logically, for it contains nature's supply of nutrition suf- 

 ficient for two mouths of metamorphic life, when it is ab- 

 sorbed aud disappears. During this period, the hatehling 

 requires uo oilier food, nor will it accept of the most 

 templing morsel, while this provision of nature continues 

 to supply every want. The fish cousciows of its defects, 

 is shy aud retiring in its habits, seeking refuge beneath ob- 

 jects, keeps out of sight — desiring only seclusion. The 

 duration of this metamorphosis is about fifty days. While 

 this singular period of existence is going on, if we pos- 

 sessed no knowledge of the origin or ancestry of the fish, 

 we would be at a loss to know" to what family it belongs, 

 for it has uo resemblance as yet, to the world-renowned, 

 and royal race, of which it is u veritable member. Just at 

 ibis point, we may observe, that this strange physical phe- 

 nomenon, as exhibited in the yolk-sac, indicates a striking 

 relation between parent aud offspring, aualagous to that 

 which exists iu the mammalia, which is man i tested in an- 

 other mode, after '« in h, by nursing. In the light of em- 

 bryology, the vitelline membrane of the egg, in compara- 

 tive anaiomy, and in comparative physiology, answers iu 

 structure, anil in function, lo the chorion of mammals. 

 This peculiar investment, which begins so low down itithc 

 scries ot animal life, and in vegetable life too, forms a di- 

 agnostic feature of each individual pieces iu each link of 

 the ascending life's chain, from monad to man, which so 

 materially aids the biologist iu elucidating and explaining 

 more clearly the marvellous processes connected with the 

 evolution of species, life force, the multiplication and de- 

 velopment of cells, and many other obslruse problems of 

 animal existence. Fish eulturisU have favorable opportu- 

 nities Zoc investigations in this granf field, it is only just 

 entered, as it were, by the ploughshare of science, ami in 

 the near future many important developments will be made 

 lor Ihe benefit of pisciculture, as well as for zoology gen- 

 erally. At this stage of fish-life, ihe labors of the fish n»r- 

 rner are indeed burdensome, and from this period, onward 

 to the time of the transfer of the fry CO the pond, there is 

 no rest. Daily the troughs must be carefully examined, 



and all dead fish removed, tot at Ibis period many will 

 surely die. The bulb syringe here becomes a useful instru- 

 ment, already spoken of in a former chapter. Attendants 

 should be provided with convenient microscopes the pat- 

 tern used by watchmakers, confined to the eye, by a rub- 

 ber band around the forehead, to avoid the perplexii i I 

 holding it before, the eye when iu use. It is mdi.speiisilile 

 iu detecting dead fish, or any deleterious substances lying 

 among the gravel. This period is truly a critical one, anil 

 untiring energy is the only precursor of success. The 

 mighty scourge, of I lie pisciculturist is the bymia, a woid 

 from the Greek, signifying thread like, hairy, or filamen- 

 tous, a fungous which attaches to dead or unfertilized ova, 

 and is also found iu connection with the fishof the troughs, 

 The imperfect gills of Ihe j-oung fish require the constant, 

 motion of the pectoral fins to aid the feeble respiration, 

 and there filaments of the fungoid growth, too minute and 

 delicate lo be seen by the unassisted eye, become entangled 

 in Ihe gills, and respiration being impeded, the fish dies. 

 Hence much labor is required, as well as constant watch- 

 fulness, to prevent the too frequent catastrophe of loss of 

 labor, by loss of ttock. While (iff weeks, mingled with 

 intense anxiety, are passing away, the fishes are percepti- 

 bly, being transformed, and are increasing iu size, but ihe 

 constant watchfulness already inaugurated must continue 

 to lire end, if complete success is exoecied to be attained. 

 At the end of fifty days the unsightly fish is transformed 

 into a more perfect image of its kind, and takes its place as 

 an importantmember of the great animal kingdom among 

 a long line of noble ancestors. We now come lo the food 

 problem which has been so much discussed by fish 

 farmers. Naiium E. ISai.eoij, M. D., 



SandioicJi, 1.1. 



*■*- 



v. FISH CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 



Editor Fotiest ahd SiKBAiR— 



This useful and flourishing association of men, who wish 

 to encourage the preservation of our game aud fish, and 

 who are looking sharply after the infringement of the laws 

 of our Slate, and to punish all offenders, hold meetings 

 once a moult), aud coniinually new members are beingad- 

 ded to thesociety. Thelaw makinga close season between 

 August 1st and Nov. 1st hw been well enforced, anil with 

 the result that further prosecutions For violations will 

 probably not be necessary for the future. Caretul obser- 

 vations for a long while have convinced us here thai 

 salmou is to be fouud in our rivers and Lays every month 

 iu the year, which does not lake place, 1 believe, in any 

 other part of the world. 



Our Fish Commissioners, notwithstanding the small al- 

 lowance from the Stale, which is only $1,600 a year, and 

 which should beniorethau twice us much, have acted 

 with much zeal, perseverance and good judgment. The 

 plantiug or shad in the Sacramento liver is likely to prove 

 in a year or two more a complete success, as numbers have 

 been caught in nets set for other fish at various points on 

 this coast. 



During 1870 Ihe Fish Commissioners have placed I'll, lit 10 

 young shad, in good cond'uiou, into llio Sacramento river, 

 near'lMiuma. Every year they are stocking our rivers 

 wilh young saimon by the million, and the good effect of 

 this measure is now being experienced every winter in Olll 

 bay by the great numbeisol them, which u 

 anglers at Long Whin i, < idklaud, near our eily One bun 

 dred and fifty thousand whitetish eggs arc being hatched 

 atBerksley, a suburb of Oakland, opposite Sun Francisco, 

 where our State University is sHuuied, The eastern trout 

 eggs have been hatched out and placed iu mount ail 

 These fish have grown aud thrived well, a large nlUftbtr 

 having spawned. 



The new species of trout culled the Dolly Vnrden, wHich 

 have been found, we think, Ihe last four years in some of 

 our northern streams, will be distiibuicd next season 

 throughout the Stale. They inhabit chiefly gluei. 

 They have yellow spots just below the back, and red spuis 

 above the bellv, and are quite handsome, but not so biil- 

 liant as the eastern or European trout. They ha\ 

 been found lo inhabit Alaska. The name of thi 

 Salmo Oampbellii in pisciculture. 



We expect also to propagate the grayling in C 

 the coming season. It is taid to be the most beautiful fish 

 in American waters. These will be placed in ou 

 streams of the Sierras. The Schuylkill culii 

 planted havelargely increased, and been largely distributed 

 throughout the Stale. Ihe Mississippi catfish placed in 

 the San Joaquin river have also done well, a number 

 weighing from three lo four pounds having been 

 various limes. The black bass i» Napa and Alerreda 

 creeks have largely increased in number. Lobsters will be 

 again attempted soon. IS. ■' ■ HOOPBB, 



, -».«- ■ 



Fiiesii Wateh Salmon m Pennsylvania.— \\ e »«, 

 gelling gradually some very important information re- 

 specting the culture of the Salmo Salty" in land-locked 

 fresh -raters. In the lettei below, friend Thomj 

 lions facts which are worth more than a passing notice, 

 for they bear very much upon the question win 

 laud locked salmon of Canada and Maine are 

 salmon, or merely a variety of trout. In .Mr. Thompson's 

 case we have veriluble salmon which were obtained Irom 

 both fry and ova, so that the question of identity no longer 

 forms any part or feature of the investigation What «,_• 

 really have, bejond doubt, are true salmou, that have not 

 tasted salt waler for five years, and are impatient to make 

 sporl for the angler:— 



^ New Hope, Pa., February 10th. 



Editor Fokest and Streams— 



Your correspondent, "isouvelle," lias his salmi 

 deep water for meat pieteut, as I am not aware 

 age they become adults, ami 1 have none yet thai 

 ■ reive pounds. Win u 1 w as struck wil 

 on the brain, I was told by several v bo have 



