204 



FOREST AND STREAM 



that costs only $100. You must calculate on 10 days ; 6 days 

 on the pools fishing — viz.: 



Faro from New York via Montreal and Quebec, and back to New 



Tork _ *356Q 



1U days' board, at $9 pn Hay 2(1 CO 



4mgai8in sleeping coach, ntsa per nlsht 8 00 



llBR, SI perdiy a md li 00 



6 flays guides aud canoe, S2.50 per day 15 00 



6dms' board of guidee, $1.20 per day 7 20 



Extras 8 20 



Total 51 no 00 



For an outfit (always remembering that the best is the 

 you -will need a good wood rod (.1 believe the green- 

 heart the best), reel, liue,""flies and casting lines on leaders, 

 $50 will suffice, but in purchasing be sure you get none but 

 the Tery best and strongest, and such can be had of William 

 Mills & Bon, 7 Warren street, New York, or Bradford & 

 Anthony, 374 Washington street, Boston. 



My fishing for several years has been dene with one of H. 

 L. Leonard's split bamboo rods, and nothing can equal them 

 for lightness or elasticity and the exquisite finish of the fer- 

 rules, requiring no holdfasts to keep the rod from coming 

 apart •while casting, as are required on nil English or Scotch 

 rods which I have used or seen. Weight is a great consider- 

 tion in a rod where you are sometimes" obliged to swing for 

 hours tempting the fish with every variety of fly in your book 

 when they are not in the mood to be thus imposed upon. 



Speaking of Leonard's rods, I am glad to see by your ad- 

 vertising columns that the old (established 1323) and very 

 reliable fishing tackle house of William Mills <fc Son, No. 7 

 Warren street, New York city, are the sole agents for this 

 truly celebrated article iu piscatorial implements. Gbiub. 



For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun. 

 THE FLEAS OF FLORIDA. 



AT this present time, March, Florida is literally a land Of 

 flowers, as the orange trees are in full bloom and the 

 wild flowers of the woods gTeet the lover of nature. The 

 average winter visitor does not learn much of Florida ; he 

 hurries from one fashionable resort to another, and skips all 

 the country between. The best way to study the country and 

 the people, to find game, or to save money, is to keep away 

 from the fashionable resorts. Y T ou will learn more in six 

 months than you would in sis years' visitations made in the 

 ordinary mode. 



This point (Orange Park) is a good base for the ordinary 

 sportsman; the " Park View " house is a good one, kept by 

 Mr. Crittenden, of the " Cooper House," at Coopersiown, N. 

 Y. There are two good stores where almost everything 

 wanted may be obtained at reisonable prices. Jacksonville 

 is only twelve miles distant, with convenient access three or 

 four times a day by steamers. " Doctors' Lake" joins its 

 waters with the St. Johns Kiver a half mile from the hamlet, 

 and its borders furnish hunting grounds foralmost everything^ 

 from quail to alligators. Pishing is good if you know how, 

 when and where to catch the finny tribe. A few miles back 

 from the river on either side turkey and deer may be found, 

 and if the sportsman is fond of snakes he can find a variety 

 within a reasonable walking distance. 



The discomforts of life in Florida are few, but as warmer 

 weather approaches they become more apparent. I have 

 made the acquaintance of the " wood-tick '' who "slicketU 

 closer than a brother ;" have had some experience with '• rei I 

 bugs," sand flies, etc., but for pertinacity, agility, industrious- 

 ness and general meanness I cheerfully award the palm to the 

 flea. My experience has been amusing. One day I dis- 

 covered some ugly red blotches on my person which required 

 scratching. I spoke to several friends about my disease, and 

 they pronounced it the "hives, or herpes," and advised the 

 use of cream of tartar and sulphur. So of course cream of 

 tartar and sulphur occupied a prominent place in my bill of 

 fare for three or four days. As my disease rapidly grew 

 worse, I applied to a medical gentleman for relief ; lie pre- 

 scribed sarsaparilla and iron, said my blood was out of order, 

 and a dose or two of pills would do me good. I followed the 

 prescription for two more days of agony and passed two long, 

 sleepless nights. On the next day I concluded I would take 

 a critical inspection of my scarified cuticle, and stripped off all 

 my clothing, and, as luck would have it, I fortunately had on 

 white underclothing, that revealed the miserable little 

 wretches to my astonished gaze— Fleas ! Fleas ! ! Fleas ! ! ! 

 I threw my physic to the dogs, bought a bottle of Persian in- 

 sect powder, and am once more resigned to life. 



Moral— Keep away from all old log houses, pens, dogs, 

 etc., at this time of the year. It is said that when water- 

 melons come fleas go, which is poor consolation, as 1 intend 

 to be home in New York by June if possible, as by that time 

 the malarial fiend lays violent hands on nine-tenths 

 people, or did last summer, if the testimony of residents who 

 are not interested in selling lauds can be believed. 



Nacthts. 



SHOOTING ON THE CHATIWISKA 

 RIVER, FLORIDA. 



HMTOB FOKK8T AND STBBAM: 



The little village of Bay Port, west coast of Florida, comprises only 

 four families. Fifteen miles north of Bay Fort lies the Chattwlskn 

 Paver, the home of the deer, bear, wild lurkey and watBr-fowi. 0d ac- 

 count of the dense, low swamp on either Bide, it Is only appro ' 

 boat. Seldom does any one visit this wild reirear, and the I 

 never before saw a white man suffer a boat to approach very mar. At 

 midnight on the loth of January, my man of all work, Steve, and myself 

 Btarted for the river, and at sunrise we were well up into its mouth 

 We had shipped our oare, and Steve was poling the boar slowly, while 

 I was looking np stream. Suddenly I was startled by Steve shooting 

 both barrels at once. He quickly lauded the boal, and, bounding 

 ashore, was struggling with a large buck. 1 went to his assistance, and 

 we soon had the fellow tu the boat. The tide was coming is 

 drifted up Btxeam. I could not withstand the temptation to let go both 

 barrels at a flock, although we had decided not to shoot at docks, for 

 fear of frightening away the larger game. We picked up nine gray 

 clucks. We soon arrived at the shell mound, and after carefully look- 

 ing around for gam?, landed and built a lire, and inatfe a breakfast of 

 broiled deer liver, hot coffee and condensed milk, with eweet potatoes 

 and soda crackers. Steve said he knew of a scrub about one-half mile 

 from the river, and wag sure of some large game by going there. 

 1 gave him my rifle, and I remained on the mound. 1 made a kind of 

 wooden shovel, and was buay digging Into the shell mound. 1 had 

 already found human bones and pieces of pottery, when I was startled 

 by the "Quit, quit, quit," of a turkey. Looking carefully over the 

 Bwamp, 1 saw a turkey coming, seemingly frightened, Bnd looking 



beyond , I paw a red creature kind of crawling for her. I waited until 

 the turkey was within ten yards of me, then fired, and turning quickly, 

 had a snap shot at the retreating creature, As there wis water between 

 it and where I was, I cculd not go there. I had heard Steve shoot 

 three tlraee. I heard him shoot again, nearer, and In a tew moments 

 three deer bounded past. One stumbled; then coming nearer, stum- 

 bled again, fell, and lay quiet within forty yards of where I stood, in 

 a faw moments Steve came with a email r'eer and a large tmkey, and 

 said he had crippled another deer. I told htm what 1 had seen and 

 ddtie, and as I could see the motion of the head of the deer that had 

 fallen I Bhot at It twice with the rine. On account of the appearance 

 of a coming storm, we started for home aa soon as possible, and with 

 both wind and tide In our favor, at half-past fou: o'clock we were 

 safely moored at the little wharf at Bay Port. W. 



S$H $*um 



STATE FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



WE publish below a correct list of the Fish Commission- 

 ers of 21 States. The names have been obtained 

 by direct, application to some member of each of the boards, 

 and may therefore be relied upon as accurate. A comparison 

 of this list with those published in the various State reports 

 will develop the curious fact that no one of the latter is cor- 

 rect. We shall supplement the present list with the names of 

 other commissioners as soon as they are received. To the 

 gentlemen who have so promptly responded to our request for 

 these names we return our thanks. Any State Commissions 

 whose members may not have received our written request, 

 will oblige us and will render material service to fish-cultural- 

 ists by promptly sending to us their names :— 



Cahfoksia. — S. Ii. Throcmorton, San Francisco; B. B. 

 Bedding, San Francisco ; J. D. Farwell, Alameda. 



C'olokado. — Wilson E. Si sty, Brookvale. 



Coxkbotiout.— Wm. M. Hudson, Hartford; Robert G. 

 Pike, Middletown ; James A. Bill, Lyme. 



Georgia. — No fish commission. T. B, Jamesis State Agri- 

 cultural Commissioner. 



Iowa. — B. F. Shaw, Anamosa. 



Kentucky. — Executive Committee : Wm. Griffith, P. H. 

 Darby, Dr. S. W. Coombs, J. A. Steele, J. H. Bums. Com- 

 missioners : Jno. B. Walker, T. T. Garra, Jas. B. Casey C 

 J. Walton, W. C. Allen, P. H. Darby. 



Maise.— E. M. Slilwell, Bangor ; Henry O. Stanley, Dix- 

 field. 



Mabxland,— T. B. Ferguson, Baltimore ; Thomas Hugh- 

 lett Easton. 



Massachusetts.— Theodore Lyman, Brookline; E. A. 

 Brackett, Winchester j A;a French, So. Braintree. 



Michigan. — EliB. Miller, Richland; Andrew 

 Detroit ; J. C. Parker, Grand Rapids : Geo. II. Jerome Biles' 

 Superintendent. 



MraSBBOlA— St. Paul. March 21.— 1st Dist., Daniel Cam- 

 eron, La Orescent ; 2d Dist., Wm. W. Swcney, M. D. Red 

 Wing; 3d Dist. Rob't Ormsby Sweeny, St. Paul. 



Nevada.— H. G. Parker, Carson. 



New Hampshire. — Sam'l. Webber, Manchester; Luther 

 Hayes, South Milton; Albina H. Powers, Plymouth. 



New Jersey.— E. P. Howell, M. D. Woodbury, Col, E. J. 

 Anderson, Trenton; Theodore Morford, Newton. 



Nbw York.— K. Barnwell Eoosevelt, 76 Chambers street, 

 New Tork ; Edward M. Smith, Rochester; Richard U. Sher- 

 man, New Hartford, Oneida.^Co. 



Ohio.— J. C. Fisher, Coshocton ; L. A. Harris, Cincinnati; 

 R. Cummings, Toledo. 



PEHKBTlvASli, — H. J. Reedcr, Easton; James Duffy 

 Marietta ; Ben. L. Hewit, Hollidaysburg. 



Rhode Island. — Alfred A. Reed, Jr., Providence; New- 

 ton Dexter, Providence ; John H. Harden, Rockland. 



Vermont,— M. Goldsmith, Rutland; Charles Barrett, 

 Grafton. 



VntGiNiA.— W. W. Marshall McDonald, Lexington. He 

 has recommended in report that the duties be turned over to 

 Commissioner of Agriculture. 



Wisconsin. — Gov. Wm. E. Smith, cc-ojjkw, Madison ; Wm, 

 Welch, President, Madison ; Moses Hooper, Secretary,' 

 Oskosh ; P. R. Hoy, Treasurer, Racine : H. W. Welcher, 

 Sup't, Madison; Mark Douglas, Melrose, Jackson Co.; John 

 F. Antisdel, Milwaukee ; Christopher Hutchinson, Beetown, 

 Grant Co. 



^ > — 



Remarks Upon the Management of Public 

 Aquaria, With a Plan for Reducing 

 Their Running Expenses. 



By Feed Mathee. 

 [Read before the American Fish Cultural Association.] 



Inthepra king of a large public aquariurn.it is found 



that the well-known principle upon which parlor aquaria arc 

 kept, known as the " self-sustaimng" principle of oxygenation 

 by means of plantlife,isdeflcientinfurnishiug a sufficient quan- 

 tity of oxygen to completely consume all feculent matter and 

 to sustain the large specimens and numbers of animals re- 

 ■ be sho'.vu. Another reason is that there sire some 

 forms of life which refuse to live in still water, no matter how 

 well it may ith oxygen. In fresh water this is 



readily seen in the salmon tribe and some of the pereoids and 

 brook cyprinoids, while in a self-sustaining marine-aquarium 

 there are but few fishes that will live. Two modes then re- 

 main as at all possi ble f or an aquarium built upon a large scale, 

 viz.: the introduction of air by means of an air pump, and the 

 circulating system. 



The former of these methods is only fit for a temporary ex- 

 hibition, and, even then, requires great care and cleanliness or 

 the fish will not thrive even for a few davs; and in this I found 

 my views corroborated by the experience of the oldest and 

 best aquarium keepers in Europe, most of whom have entirely 

 abandoned the use of air pumps as the cause of more harm 

 than good. The Great Brighton Aquarium has a combination 

 of methods— the sea-water being pumped from the sea into 

 reservoirs and then distributed. At the same time a system of 

 air pipes is relied on for aeration, as the water is kept until it 

 gets cloudy and then is furnished anew, causing it to he clear 

 at times and at others cloudy. 



I may as well explain here that sea-water, no matter how 

 clear it may be when procured, will become so clouded with- 

 in a week that a person cannot see in it to the extent of a foot. I 



This is caused by the decay of the organic matter, which, if 

 the water ia circulated, will iu time become burned up and 

 deposited upon the bottom of the reservoirs in the 

 harmleaa sediment, say in from one to three months, or even 

 longer, before the water becomes beautifully limpid and of 

 the highest transparency. 



It is after this purification that plants begin to grow and 

 beautify the hard lines of the rockwork ; and, in my opinion, 

 the water in a marine aquarium should be circulated for six 

 months in a dim twilight before a fish is placed in it. One of 

 the worst things to contend with in a public aquarium is the 

 light, which, however necessary for the people who visit it, is 

 very detrimental to the fishes. 



In speaking of aquarium keeping, I will say that I would 

 not include in this term any system in which the entire stock 

 requires renewing every three months, as there are many 

 fishes which are quite well adapted to aquarium life and which 

 Will thrive there if the tanks are properly kept. Although 

 aeration by circulation is the proper and only correct method 

 for public aquaria, the aid of vegetation is not to be despised, 

 and marine vegetation is somewhat difficult to grow ; yet, if 

 the rock work is so arranged as to give light and shade, and 

 even gloom in some places, the plants which would thrive 

 will appear of themselves, their spores being everywhere in 

 sea water. The green algte {Ohloroiperma.) will come in the 

 lighter parts, while in the obscure portions those most deli- 

 cate red weeds {Rhodosperma) may grow. If, however, it is 

 thought best to introduce these plants, it will be found that 

 most of them will die, as, before they get fairly settled in their 

 new home, the stimulus of the light will have covered thein 

 with green or purple filamentous weeds, as Conferva, 

 Oscillatoria, etc., which conceal them with their 

 abundant growth, and finally smother them. The 

 mullets (family M-ugilida) are the only good veeelable eaters 

 among our marine fishes which thrive in aquaria."and, with the 

 vegetable-eating mullusks which may be carefully introduced, 

 are beneficial in keeping this growth down to some extent 

 but are as likely to eat the plants which they should not, as 

 all other things are to work against our wishes. The well- 

 known Venus' ear (Halioiis tuberculatci) is a favorite in Eng. 

 lish tanks and eats conferva clean, and in the two best aquaria 

 in that country the tanks are never cleaned on the inside, yet 

 they look as if that operation had just been performed. 



In a French book on acclimatization, by H. de la Blanchere 

 it is stated that the more the plants belong to the inferior or- 

 ganisms the greater their oxygenating power, and that crypto- 

 genic plants have a greater power of vivifying water on ac- 

 count of their greater evolution of oxygen, and also that M. 

 St. Hilaire has found tbat conferva in the aquarium of the 

 Sociele dAcclimatation in Paris produces a constant and 

 enormous evolution of oxygen. Such is the influence of light 

 upon vegetation that in my own f resii-water parlor tanks I 

 have found it necessary to shield them at night during the 

 periods of full moon in order to check the growth of conferva- 

 and in a public aquarium it is hardly possible to have it too 

 dim for the well-being of the inhabitants, few of whom live 

 in atroDg lights. No more light should be allowed than that 

 which conies through the water, as then the visitor standing 

 in obscurity can readily see what would otherwise be indis- 

 tinct ; hence all attempt at ornament or display outside 

 the tanks is useless. 



These remarks, so far, have been intended more for those 

 unfamiliar with the subject, and really contain little that, is 

 new to the few who have studied it closely ; but, in order to 

 render what I intend to say intelligible to the former class, I 

 wish to add the well-known fact that, in aquarium keeping, 

 the longer the water is used the better it is, and that the in- 

 troduction of new, or fresh water, is often fatal, To sum it 

 up in fewest words, there is not a drop of new water in the 

 world : it has been breathed over and drank over millions of 

 times ; the sun draws it up to a certain height only, and it is 

 blown over the land and precipitated iarain, and then returns 

 to the sea. An aquarium such as I am describing is a minia- 

 ture world, the reservoirs represent the sea, the pump ia the 

 sun, the pipes are the cloudB which convey the water where it 

 is required, the spigots represent the rain, and the overflow 

 pipes are the brooks and rivers which return the water to its 

 starting-place; and, as the fish only need waterto keep ihem 

 moist and their gills free to absorb the oxygen" contained iu 

 in the water, therefore what they require is water supplied 

 with fresh oxygen, which is fresh water. 



With these explanations I will now give my idea of con- 

 structing an aquarium upon a new plan, the advantage of 

 which is its economy. First: I would aerate the water by 

 flowing over a shallow bed between the tanks, and then in- 

 troduce it into the bottoms of them; that is, in at ihe bottom 

 and out at the top ; then over another wide shallow space and 

 down an aperture to the bottom of the next tank. It takes 

 but the slightest contact with the atmosphere for water to ab- 

 sorb its fill ol oxygen, if spread out and exposed ; a flow of a 

 foot in length by three feet in width, with a depth of half an 

 inch, would be all sufficient. The object of this is 

 of water, hence economy of motive power, and was si 

 ytog the working of Williamson's "dtfubl 

 hatching trough. In all aquaria, as at present arranged, there 

 pipes supplying each tank, and the tanks-flow into 

 each oilier, the second one getting all that flowed into the first 

 in addition to its own stream, while tho tenth, in ai 

 being furnished with as much new water as the first one received 

 gets all that has passed through the other nine. It is evident 

 that if the water is properly aerated after leaving tank No. 1, 

 it is as good as new for the next one, and so on, making a sav- 

 ing in a row of ten tanks of nine-tenths of the water, and con- 

 sequently of the power required to raise it. 



The aquarium at Southport, England, has an elevated res- 

 ervoir into which the water is pumped from the lower ones 

 and then flows into a few of the show tanks, and the curator, 

 Mr. John Long, remarked that if it was large enough to con- 

 tain a supply for a week it could be filled in one day and 

 then the engine might rest. Combining this idea with the 

 former one there seems to be no objection to building an 

 aquarium with an elevated reservoir (in addition to the lower 

 one), and by using the aerating principle given before, saving 

 nine-tenths of the' fuel and labor required to run a set of tanks 

 as is now done by pumping night and day. The main diffi- 

 culty would seem to be the high temperature to which an ele- 

 vated reservoir would be exposed during the summer. This 

 might be fatal, unless it could be overcome by natural advant- 

 ages, as in case of a hill where the reservoir could be placed 

 in its side, or, if connected with some institution which could 

 oombine an ice house with its elevatad reservoir. 



It has seemed almost impossible to sustain a public aquarium 

 without the objectionable features of what are known as 

 "additional attractions," and yet it aho>uld not be. There are 

 a few aquaria which are managed without these, as the one at 

 Southport, the Crystal Palace Aquarium and the pretty little 

 one in Hamburg. Theee have not even rnopic to disturb one's 



