FOREST AND STREAM 



125 



to Professor Baird and written by Pish Commissioner B. B. 

 Bedding, of California, is given to ettenao. The concurrent 

 testimony taken by the California legislature from son i 

 experience! fishermen of the. Sacramento River, goes to show 

 that in October and November, in that river, they Caught 

 from 5 to ir> per cent, of fisb that had spawned. MOfil ot 

 these were taken in the '' back of nets,'' and were drl 

 ward the oeean with their heads up stream. Tne fish are 

 black, booked-mouthed, have dogteeth and do not feed. Mr. 

 Bedding farther savs of the habits of these fish— (his letter is 

 dated March 13, 1878) : 



" I know of my own knowledge that some of the McCloud 

 Biver salmon remain in the river until the next year. On the 

 5tb of July last I whs fishing on the head waters of the 

 McCloud Biver, about fifty miles above the United States 

 fishery, catching salmon and trout. The salmon that season 

 had just arrived, and would take the hook, but in the pools 

 there were also numerous salmon of the previous year— hook- 

 mouth and dog-teeth— which could be tempted to take any- 

 thing. Sir John Heed, who was fishing in the same pool with 

 me, improvised a long gaff with which he caught one of these 

 fish of the previous year. Although thin, it weighed twenty- 

 two pounds. We saw several others, but did not attempt to 

 take them. These fish certainly must have remained in the 

 water six or eight months without food, and for some unac- 

 countable reason failed to return to the ocean. It is certainly 

 true that large numbers do die and get injured, but from the 

 testimony of the fishermen I am satisfied that large numbers 

 return to the ocean each year. The opinion of the fishermen 

 is that they return to the ocean after spawning, with the first 

 rains on the head-waters. The coast-rivers salmon spawn in 

 January and February, In the short streams that empty into 

 the ocean, and immediately return after spawning. Most of 

 our coast rivers have bars at their mouths, tlrrown up by the 

 waves, and when these rivers and streams are low, fresh 

 water passes through these sand-bars to the ocean. When the 

 floods come in the winter they tear open a passage through 

 these bars. The salmon immediately enter, and work up into 

 all the Bmall branches in the hills where it is possible for them 

 to reach, spawn in a few days, and immediately return down 

 stream into the ocean. It was but last Saturday 1 took seven 

 of theBe salmon in pools in a small stream which ran through 

 a pasture within twenty miles of San Francisco. This stream 

 empties into the bay. Our winter rains have been more heavy 

 than usual, and all these short coast and bay streams are full 

 of salmon spawning, 



" Now, as regards young fish, I have repeatedly taken 

 young salmon, one year old, With a fly, at the United States 

 fishery in July or August. These young fish were always in 

 the centre of the river, while the trout would be taken in 

 Bhoaler water near the shore. I am therefore certain that 

 some of them remain in the river for one year after they are 

 hatched. Many grilse are taken in the bay here from the 

 wharves, weighing from three-quarters of a pound to 

 five or six pounds. I have never seen any taken in salt water 

 which I thought was younger than two or three years. I am 

 certain that Mr. Stone is in error in reporting that California 

 salmon die after having spawned." 



The run of salmon in the Merrimack last year was mainly 

 from the planting of 1873. No fry were introduced in 1S74, 

 and therefore no dividend was looked for in 1878. But few 

 were seen at the Lawrence fishway, and only eleven were 

 taken at Plymouth. Experience with the salmon in these 

 rivers demonstrates that they go down to the sea in the third 

 year. Those planted in 1876 have been carefully watched, 

 and were found to be very numerous all along the river near 

 the mouths of trout brooks until the middle or last August, 

 when they began slowly to change their quarters and move 

 down stream, and after the first of September none were 

 found above Livermore Falls. 



The Report closes with a review of the economic import- 

 ance of the fisheries of a nation in comparison with its agri- 

 cultural and manufacturing interests, and a suggestion that 

 the increasing population of the various States demand that 

 every resource, should be thoroughly and fully developed, 



THE BELASTOMA GRANDIS. 



[A Paper Bead belore tlie American Fish Cnltnral Association Feb. 20.] 

 Bx MB. H. D. McGOVSBN, OF Brooklyn. 



THE question has been asked me more than once, "Why 

 is u that our streams, which used to abound with fish, 

 are so depleted, particularly of the young trout ?" I at once 

 commenced an investigation, and began to think why it was 

 that the good old streams of Long Island, that used to fur- 

 nish so much pleasure to the sportsman, were now almost un- 

 tenanted by large trout. The question, I thought, could be 

 easily answered ; knowing that there were so many pot-hunt- 

 ing sportsmen around, ih and out of season, who would not 

 hesitate to kill a large trout even if they knew that it was on 

 the spawning bed and in the very act of spawning. This, 

 with the assistance of the mink and snake and other enemies, 

 I thought, would answer the question ; but I was mistaken. 

 I will pass the large trout for the present and give you the re- 

 sult of my investigation of the small fish. When 1 say small 

 I mean from one year to eighteen months trout. I was in 

 the habit of placing some of the fish in a spriug well for 

 general observation. As the water was clear and the space 

 narrow, it afforded me a good opportunity to watch the 

 growth, habits and movements of the speckled beauties. 

 Several times I came to my spring and found some of the 

 number missing. I examined the screens and found there- 

 was no chance of escape by that means. I then placed six 

 eighteen months old fish in the spring. Next morning I 

 found one missing. At 4 p. m. on the same day two were 

 missing. On the following morning only two rem 

 Then 1 became alarmed, and thought the fish were playing 

 cannibal ; so 1 determined to solve the problem, if it took me 

 the balance of the year. Knowing that one of the fish was 

 taken or disappeared Between 10 A. M. and i r. If, the previ- 

 ous day, I begun to watch, and was rewarded at 3 i\ at. by 

 noticing something crawl from under a bunch of water 

 cresses which grew on the edge of the spring. It first ap- 

 peared like a mouse. When it reached the water it dove 

 down and like a flash it was up again, with something at- 

 tached to it. I was not slow in capturing the intruder, and 

 found to my surprise that it was a large bug, resetei. 

 good sized locust, having one of my small fish in" bis grasp. 



Now, gentlemen, as 1 am uu entomologist, 1 do not know 

 the name of it, but from the manner in which it held the 

 trout 1 should call it a bear bug, for indeed the poor fish was 

 getting a bear's hug. Having placed it in a jac of water it 

 still held on to the fish, and seemed to enjoy its imprison- 

 ment. From observations with the naked eye, while tho bug 

 was in the glass jar, I could see that it tortured the fish from 



a tubular prong, which it cast from the tail and fastened on 

 the fiah. In a second it became inflated to double its size. 

 Now, gentlemen, as our worthy treasurer remarked, f think 

 this is a F ' blood-sucking fisherman, and largely He 

 the depletion of our small fish." Being iuqmsiliy. 

 if the thief would live out of wain i el ipta< d the jar and 

 placed Some screen work over the mouth for the purpose of 

 procuring air. Next Booming I found the bug with his toes 

 turned up and his victim beside him; so I found, good fish- 

 erman as he was, he differed from the many anglers of the 

 present day. Nothing but spring water would suit His bug- 

 ship, and enable him to feast on his dainty morsel. 



^ Now, to return to tho large fish. It is not very pleasant to 

 find a large trout dead or dying without any seeming cause, as 

 the fish would look healthy, and as proof of such, when captured 

 and opened, you find that it has eaten a good feed a short 

 time previous. One day last month I was feeding some large 

 trout that had come down from the spawning beds. Suddenly 

 I noticed one of the number jump clear out of the water, 

 wriggle a moment and then keel over. 1 took it on the bunk 

 and first examined to see if it had choked itself ; but that was 

 not the cause of death. I at once opened it and discovered a 

 four-inch red worm coiled up near the heart. I closed up the 

 fish and folded it in paper, intending, as I did afterward, to 

 take it to Mr. Blackford until we could hold an inquest. In 

 the meantime some friends came to the pond. I went to show 

 them the fish and worm, but, to my surprise, the 

 gone. I searched ail the intestines, but without si" 

 was about giving up the search when, noticing a small rise in 

 1 the fish, close to the ventral tin, about the size of 

 a small pea, I cut the same, and found the worm coiled up 

 under the skin as it was in the breast when I first di 

 it. I have not yet received the name of the worm from the 

 men versed in such matters, but I know, gentlemen, that it 

 is able to enter a fish, that it may attack or make its exit from 

 it in less than a minute. From later observations of fish, I 

 have seen the worm crawl out and then disappear in the body 

 of tho fish in about half a minute. The spot attacked in this 

 case was also near the ventral fin. Gentlemen, that this worm, 

 in connection with the bug, accounts for the scarcity of fish 

 in our streams, 1 have not the slightest doubt, and hope that 

 all of you engaged in fish culture will look out for such things. 

 ^ Professor Fuller said there was but one thing in the United 

 States that would do as the insect described would do. It was 

 the bug, scientifically known as Balostoma grandis. It was 

 about three inches long and one inch broad, with powerful 

 claws and a long probosifl. 



We can scarcely imagine anything more horrible than this 

 armor-clad cold-blooded monster .which runs like a swift on 

 land, darts through the water and out of it, like a fish torpedo, 

 soars high in air and drops like a fish hawk, a shooting star, 

 or a hot potato, upon some devoted trout's back which is 

 momentarily exposed at the surface of the water in whicli he 

 swims. No strategy of trout can outwit this frightful beast. 

 At some opportune moment he quietly drops from aloft and 

 fastens his sharp hooks into his sides ; he pius him fast with 

 the point of his tail; and sucks his blood with his awl-like 

 proboscis. No effort can shake him off. Though he dive to 

 the deepest part of the pool, or scour himself against the 

 sharpest stones ; though he leap from the surface, or drag him- 

 self ashore in his agony; this big bug is there all the same, 

 and all the time. He hangs to him like the Old Man of the 

 Sea, and never lets go until the trout is sucked dry and suc- 

 cumbs to the loss of all his juices. Were the Belastoma 

 grandis as large as the octopus, he would be infinitely more 

 terrible. Inasmuch as we once had knowledge only of the 

 little cuttle fish, but now know of the existence of his gi- 

 gantic relative, even so may there not somewhere exist a Bel- 

 astoma to which the little chap now called " Grandis" is but 

 as a trifle in comparison? We shudder at the possibility. 



LAND-LOCKED SALMON IN MICHIGAN. 



^ Chicago, March S, 1S79. 



Editob Fobest and Stbeam : 



I have been waiting for some one to give an answer to 

 Mr. Meiheany's letter in Foeest and Stbbam. Ever since 

 the planting of the >j,lino tube I have watched 



with a great deal of interest the spoilsmen's journals and such 

 Michigan pa ome to my hands tor aome accounts 



of them. My interest in them has sprung from a i 

 pit the skill of a troUtiSL against one of these fine fish, and 

 know of one locution in N 

 been watched with keen ink 

 mon rise and dash up the 



another chain of lakes. We have reason to mink thes 

 are correct. 



In the spring of 1875" some 316,000 salmon trout were put 

 into Traverse Bay. and the same number in Lake Michigan 

 at the mouth of Fere Marquette itiver. In the fall of 1876, 

 in November, I think, 100 of these salmon trout were caught 

 in the east arm of Traverse Bay, in a gill-net, averaging's 

 lbs. each. This seems to be a fair growth, a little, more than 

 IS months, in that time they had attained in 

 The following spriug a fish was e ■< i 

 was unknown to those who saw it. This 

 lake trout, or pickerel. From description sent me by friends 

 residing there, we concluded it was one of this fry deposited 

 by Mr. Jorome's assistants in 1875. This fish was undoubted- 

 ly watching its chances to ascend the rapids to gt 

 chain of lakes connecting with Lake Michigan at that point. 



The salmon caught in Log Lake we thini h ilonged to fry 

 put in there May 19, 1STG, by Mr. Bleazby, of Oalkaska, who 

 put in 5,000. This fish compares favorably with others caught 

 in different localities. Some of the same species were put into 



Rapid River connecting with Tot I ake Michigan 



at Bik Rapids. In connection with this Pact, we would say 

 thai in all these small rivers and creeks, We bavc i 



swarms of yoiintr fry (minnows), Ihf.i mi din ■- 



n. the 'i'' 1 

 up in the Boardman Swamp whercvr water 



was found — in creeks not over a foot wide — we have noticed 

 these little minnows, that as they grow larger must run down 

 stream and thus furnish food for trout and salmon. Under 

 these circumstances these fresh-water kings are bound to 

 thrive and take on flesh, and will be found where food i3 

 plenty. Tho same may be said of almost, ever] 

 this fishing region. For five summers we have noticed these 

 points, anil have found that at the mouth of such streams we 

 li ml the biggest trout, lying in wait for the small fry that 

 come down stream. 



We, wl ; tat B ter ear delight to find fresh trout streams, 

 but time confines us to tbis famous Stale, will look with a 

 irward to the summer, when, with the 

 Dl ill' ei Jock, or Montreal, we can lay out a line and 

 attempt to allure these hue fish to take our 'lies, and feel 

 something of the peculiar sensation of one who takes his first 

 salmon, although they may not be so game as, the Ling of 

 Fishes, "The Salmo Salar." W. David Tomj.in. 



(TTtowTH of MiattdAN Laku-Locked Salmon.— The 

 first fry planted in twenty-one months attained an average 

 growth of 51bs. The salmon caught in Log Lake, in lit tie 

 more than two years' growth, weighed Slbs. and some ounces. 



California Salmon in Vikginia. — The Fish Commission- 

 ers for the State of Virginia have planted 75,000 California 

 salmon in the Rapids near Nason, Orange Co. Efforts are 

 now being made to secure an approved fish paddle for the mill 

 dams on the streams. ~ 



For Forest and Stream and Rod and Oun 

 URSUS AMERICANUS. 



THE American black bear has always been a favorite 

 theme of story among both white and red men 

 have been found in all the States from Maine to Florida. The 



climate of the Northern and Middle States seem, to be well 

 adapted to the nature of the animal, although individuals 

 differ somewhat in size and shape, even in the same loca. 

 some having shorter legs, Shorter body, the head broad 

 flat between the ears, and a short peaked muzzle of light gray 

 color,while others have longer legs, longer body, a head equally 

 broad between the ears, but more rounded, longer and larger, 

 and the muzzle of brown color. He is a formidable ant 

 when wounded or provoked, but seldom makes battle when 

 allowed to escape. He has wonderful vitality, and, to use a 

 hunter's phrase, will carry off more lead than any other 

 animal. I believe that an old lean bear can travel more miles 

 over a rough country in the space of one week than anj 

 wild animal. The gray wolf might gain a few lengths during 

 the first three days, but at the end of the week 1 

 would come out several miles ahead. Who ever heard of a 

 lean bear tiring down. Let him thoroughly understand that he 

 haB got to ' ' git up and git, " a ud he will lead oil. , i 

 surprise both men and dogs. When closely pursued i i 

 he has a peculiar trick of changing ends; that is, m •■'. 

 sudden whirl rearward, and woe to the unlucky dog that ia 

 within the sweep of his murderous paw. This sudden turn 

 causes a momentary halt among the pack, while the spet 

 the bear don't seem to be diminished, and he gets about a 

 quarter of a mile the start before the dogs begin to compre- 

 hend the trick. 



The bear can subsist on veiy short allowance, and will 

 thrive fast when food is plenty, and at such times will in 

 quently become extremely fat, when he becomes a more easy 

 prey to the hunters. The flesh of the bear, when fattel 

 mast, is of excellent quality and fine flavor, and was 

 prized by the early frontier inhabitants. He is not 

 by nature, but in the absence of vegetable diet, will eat 

 and young pork with evident relish. He will tear th 

 from rotten or decayed logs in search of snails, grubs and 

 worms, which he eats with avidity. 



He destroys wasps' and humble-bees' nests; will demolish 

 ant-hilis, simply for the small amount of sustenance contained 

 in their eggs, but his natural fooil is esculent roots and BUtS 

 of all kinds, blackberries, whortleberries, black chcrrie= 

 wild fruits of all kinds, also green corn in the milk. 



Their depredations in corn fields were frequent anion 

 early frontier settlements, and various Were tee ways and 



means resorted to for the. purpose of capturing the nor a 



depredator, sometimes causing ludicrous h « idmishapa, I 

 remember an old backwoods farmer, haviugttireeor foui 

 who discovered that a bear had beeu making sail havbi i 

 night in the noddle of the corn-field, pull i ; di a th 

 iug ears at a fearful rate. The boys held a cuncil of war, 

 tied decided to invite ail the boys from U settle- 



ments that had dogs, and by sundown o tnaj 



Ogs had collected. The plan of operation was that 

 boys and dogs should gel. under cover of a brus i 

 opposite side of the field from where the beat was t i iBOted to 

 enter, while the foreman, or epmxaander-in-chii-f, should lie 

 concealed in a bunch, of basewobd sprouts; as-ln 

 front of the rear guard, and wait for the tirst sign that would in- 

 dicate the arrival of the bear, when, ata given signal, the dogs 

 were to be let loose, and trust the chauces of war for the re- 

 sult. Iu the meantime the old farmer, without consulting the 

 boys, bad built a staging about eight feet high, agalust a dry 

 hemlock I ree that stood at the opposite side of the field, and 

 near where he supposed the bear would pat lOmil 1'n.j ami 

 iu Ll- :o~k of the evening he mounted the scaffold, having an 

 ■-- I 



moon, be ras-de irmlned, po ible, to vauqu .■ 



before the canine I be called into action. 



The best laid plans are liable to failure, as the 

 show. The night was still and quiet, the old farmer clung 

 his perch until the moon rose l. 

 see shadows plenty, but not a shadow of the bi 

 he was about to pronounce the whole campaign afailun 



iug. The bear came dashing down through the corn, with the 

 whole yelling pack in close .pursuit, and in less time than if 



