on, I found, knew nothing of i 



bat there was any value 

 itory, or any charm in observation of 



on, and almost every step 

 1 be interfered either by grumbling, or by ref uaing to as- 

 I in the third day out we encamped at a spot where 

 numerous eddies in the river suggested the possibility of suc- 

 1 Bshing. I had brought along with me a large box of 

 earth worms for bait, but the only fish I could persuade to 

 bite was the spoon-bill sturgeon, a good enough fish to eat if 

 one has the patience to drees him for the small amount of 

 llesh on his bones, but not very tempting in appearance. I 

 [uite a number of thein, none of them less than 

 twenty inches to two feet in length, when some profession- 

 al fishermen told me if I wanted to catch catfish to bait my 

 i. it. her wiili .crawfish or fresh meat. I had no time to 

 catch crawfish, and so looked around for some small bird to 

 shoot. The only thing that presented itself at the moment 

 was a. parent yellow hammer which was busily engaged in 

 carrying food to its young in the hole of a decayed tree. My 

 companion had gone off into the woods with his gun, and for 

 half an hour I sat and watched the interesting manoeuvres, for- 

 getting all about catfish or fishing ; for I know of nothing 

 more engaging to an appreciative mind than the domestic, 

 economy of animals. Finally C. came back empty-handed, 

 and Boding I had obtained no flesh for bait, he threw his gun 

 to his shoulder, and before I could interfere, shot the yellow- 

 hammer in the very act of bri ngrug another worm for its chicks. 

 I was so indignant that I remonstrated in unequivocal terms, 

 but he only returned a derisive guffaw, with a fling at my 

 " weakness," and aimed his gun at the mate, which was now 

 s:;en flying to the tree with additional provision for the larder. 

 Exasperated beyond thoughts of consequences, I levelled my 

 own gun at the ruffian and swore to shoot him if he fired at the 

 bird , and had he not respected my earnestness, I feel sure I 

 would have been as good as my word. 



It was several days before I could efface the disagreeable 

 feelings aroused by this incident ; it may be imagined that 

 : f the journey was not enhanced by it. I have 

 mentioned the squirrels to be found in the woods along this 

 river. They were of the large red species known as fox- 

 squirrels. They are considerably larger than the gray species, 

 a foxy red on the back and sides, and white underneath. 

 Stewed or roasted they are very good eating, and we usually 

 managed to secure an abundance of them each day. It was 

 while hunting a brace of these one day that I met with the 

 first really exciting adventure of our expedition. We had 

 caught sight of one of the little rodents among the branches 

 of a large elm, and had gone ashore to get a better shot at him. 

 C. at once blazed away, but without success. I followed suit 

 with my revolver, with the same result. C. then reloaded 

 and fired again, but the squirrel was hugging the top of a 

 large branch sc closely that only the ridge of his back wsb 

 visible, and though the shot struck all around him, he did not 

 show that he was in the least alarmed. I then took my car- 

 bine, carrying an ounce ball and tried to hit the branch under 

 the squirrel :so as to shake or stun him off. The second 

 shot, struck the branch fair and startled him out. He ran to 

 a higher and larger branch so quickly that 0. could not catch 

 an aim, and lay down so flat that we could not see him at all. 

 We tried to dislodge him by shots and sticks thrown up 

 among the branches, but he refused to stir. At last I climbed 

 another tree close by, taking with me my revolver, in hope of 

 getting above him ; but he anticipated me, and dodging 

 around, hid himself in a crotch. As the branch I was on was 

 not more than a rod or twenty feet away, I tried a new plan. 

 I took out my jack knife and cut off a long, slim branch, 

 trimmed it, and then reached out and struck sharply where 

 the squirrel was hid. The trick was successful. The crea- 

 ture ran up higher, exposing himself to C.'s aim as he did so, 

 and in an instant the shot came rattling through the leaves. 

 The squirrel was wounded, but managed to reach a branch 

 several feet above. I then climbed up to where I could see 

 him, and drew my pistol and fired. The bullet sped true and 

 the little animal was knocked clean off the branch. At the 

 same instant the branch I was standing on gave way, and I 

 found myself dropping earthward in a style that would have 

 delighted the squirrel had it only occurred before I had given 

 him the finishing shot. The limb was a small one, and half 

 rotten at that, and it had broken off close to the trunk with- 

 out giving even a crack as warning. 



I was full thirty feet from the ground, witl>. a clear space 

 under me, and not a limb to break the fall. A prospective 

 drop of ten yards is not a pleasant incident to force itself sud- 

 denly on a man's attention. The only branch that might have 

 interfered was the smalt one which I had cut off to stir up 

 the squirrel with. The stump of this protruded about a foot 

 from the trunk of the tree. I had scarcely time to take in 

 the situation when I felt myself suddenly brought to with a 

 jerk, and a sharp pull across my waist, which nearly cut me 

 in twain— suspended by my leather belt in mid air ! 



This arrest was providential, albeit the most reckless of 

 gamblers would not have risked a nickel on the chances. I 

 was standing with my back to the tree, and slipping straight 

 downward close to the irunk, the end of the branch I had cut 

 off had slipped in between my belt and my back. The belt 

 was a strong one ; it broke my fall so completely that it near- 

 ly broke me in two. I am not very heavy, but even the light- 

 est weight huug by a belt around his waist will feel every 

 pound he weighs. 



I thought, of course, as soon as the. pam of the shock al- 

 lowed n ill, that I was very fortunate indeed: 

 but on trying to extricate myself I found that to be a very 

 difficult task. With arms and legs both pointing outward 

 and downward, there seemed no way of lifting myself up or 

 letting myself down gently. I could put my arms above and 

 back of my head and roach around the tree trunk, but I could 

 not lift myself up an inch by such a hold. I coidd not twist 

 arouud sideways, for the belt was too tight to allow it, and if 

 I unbuckled the belt I would, of course, at once drop to the 

 ground. I twisted and strained myself until the belt seemed 

 cutting intpthe flesh; but all efforts were futile. I then 

 called "to C. to come up imd assist me, but he refused. 

 He was not much of a climber, he said, and besides there 

 was a quantity of poison ivy around the tree and he was not 

 going to poison himself. He said he would throw me a rope 

 if it'would do mo any good, but he would not come up there. 

 As I could not see how 1 could use a rope, 1 told him to go 

 hang himself with it. He then suggested cutting down the 

 tree, but the brilliant idea did not meet my approbation. If 

 he would have come up and placed himself above me he could 

 easily have lifted me off my hook ; but this he contumaciously 

 refused to do. , -, , 



At last, when my position was getting hardly bearable, I 

 thought of a way of releasing myself, which, though some- 

 what , risky, was better than continued suspense, While 



struggling a to turnaround and 



get hold of the tree, I chanced to swing my legs backward, 

 and found lhat I could reach with them around the trunk aud 

 lock my ankles on the opposite side, and this suggested the 

 1 1 ing as good a hold as possible with my legs, and 

 then unbuckling my belt and swinging downward. There 

 was a good chance of knocking my head against the trunk as 

 I swung downward, and a chance equally good of the shock 

 unloosening my feet and letting me down head first to the 

 ground. Nevertheless, I determined to run the risk. I had 

 hoped to let myself down gently by holding on to the ends 

 of the belt, but one of the ends slipped through my fingers 

 and let me down with all the force. Newton's Apple-law is 

 capable of putting into a body of one hundred and fifty 

 pounds. My head described the arc of a semi-circle, and 

 brought up, or rather down, against the tree trunk with a 

 thump that started the blood from my nose like a fountain, 

 and caused a constellation of stars of the first magnitude to 

 dance before my eyes. Fortunately my legs held on, aud I 

 was enabled to let myself down to the. ground, where the 

 first thing I did was to give Caywood a good drubbing for 

 his cowardice. That night I took particular pleasure m eat- 

 ing of the squirrel whose obstiuacy was the cause of this mis- 

 hap.* 



There is not much that is new to be seen on a trip like this, 

 but now and then I noticed things which were at least interest- 

 ing. I remember one day getting a glimpse of a novel phase 

 of bird character. We had stopped for lunch at a place where 

 the trees had been cleared away, save only a few old dead 

 trunks. One of those standing close by projected a solitary 

 branch horizontally, like a withered giant arm pointing down 

 the ages. On this branch I noticed a pair of king-birds, 

 male and female. They sat about a foot apart and appeared 

 to be deeply interested in conversation, to judge from the 

 chattering they kept up. At brief intervals the male would 

 fly off and circle around at a distance, of several rods, and 

 then return. This was repeated several times before- I dis- 

 covered the object of it, which I finally did with the aid of a 

 small spy-glass- The bird was imitating the actions of a kit- 

 ten playing with a half dead mouse. In'its bill it held a large 

 moth, which it would let escape and get away a rod or two, 

 when it would dart after it and bring it back to the tree, both 

 birds seeming to enjoy the fun. When they tired of the 

 sport, which they soon did, the male bird edged up to the fe- 

 male and held out his bill with the moth in it. The old lady 

 took it politely, and the male then flew away out of sight. I 

 may saythat I have several times since beheld similar ac- 

 tions on the part of different birds and animals. 



There was one spot passed during our first week's journey, 

 which had for me an especial interest. The Illinois River 

 joins the Mississippi at a place called Grafton, not many miles 

 above the mouth of the turbid Missouri. The low cape form- 

 ing the northern corner of the mouth of the Illinois will prob- 

 ably be mistaken by the •ooyugeur, as it was by us, for one of 

 the willow-covered islands with which the main river is inter- 

 spersed, and the Illinois itself for a large slough. On the south- 

 ern side there is a high bluff of yellowish-red stone, yielding 

 what is known along this valley as the Grafton stone. The 

 quarries for extracting this stone were in full operation as we 

 passed them. South of tbe.,c red bluffs extend along the 

 Mississippi a line of steep cliffs of a different formation — the 

 fossiliferous bmestone. They rise vertically, save the shelv- 

 ing debris at their base, to a height of sixty or seventy 

 feet, and extend for several miles. The facade of this line 

 of cliffs has been worn by the water courses trickling 

 down from the summit duriug the long ages, until it resembles 

 a long row of half-decayed columns, or of time-worn pillars 

 cut in relief. 



In these bluffs is one of the richest deposits of minor fos- 

 sils to be found in the entire limestone formation of America. 

 That entire mountain — for it almost rises to the dignity of a 

 mountain — is one solid mass of petrified organisms , of mil- 

 lions of plauts and mollusks, which centuries ago lived and 

 moved around this spot. No one having the slightest knowl- 

 edge of geology cau contemplate such a deposit without pro- 

 foundest interest ; for, long before the voice of God was first 

 heard along the banks of the Euphrates, what is now the 

 bank of one of the mightiest of rivers was the bottom of one 

 of the mightiest of seas. Bounded by the Laurentian chain 

 on the north, by the stupendous Rockies and their outlying 

 spurs on the west and south, and by the Appalachian on the 

 east, over the entire basin of the North American continent 

 ebbed and flowed the briny waters of the most wonderful of 

 geologic oceans. For countless ages it covered the face of 

 the central United States, leaving only a few isolated moun- 

 tain peaks to tower in solitary grandeur above its waves, and 

 then in obedience to some unknown law, or impelled by some 

 mighty cataclysm, it slowly subsided southward, until to-day 

 only the Mexican Gulf remains as a puny relic of its original 

 vastness. How long ago this ocean existed, or why or when 

 it finally disappeared, we only know through the misty hy- 

 pothesis of scientific speculators ; but the handwriting of God 

 on BalsbaKzar's walls was not more plain than the evidence 

 that at some time in the remote past such a sea actually ex- 

 isted. The proofs are everywhere. The limestone base of 

 the broad prairies is its manufacture. The wonderful fer- 

 tility of the same prairies comes from the sediment of the 

 same vast body of water. The beautiful diversification of 

 the inner foot-hills of the boundary mountains was fashioned 

 by the washing of its finally subsiding waves, and over foot- 

 hill and prairie lie scattered those strange hieroglyphics which 

 the geological Champollions have learned to translate with 

 such marvelous correctness. I have picked up such evidences 

 in the shape of shells and other marine fossils on the prairies 

 of Texas, more than three thousand feet above the present 

 level of the sea. 1 have met with them again on the prairies 

 of Minnesota, and here again I met with still more abundant 

 evidences in the river margins of Central Illinois. 



While this ocean was rolling in silent grandeur over the site 

 of a mighty nation, various mineral salts were dej 

 which, through the strange process of nature, slow v 

 into limestone rock. As this rock was forming, the seeds of 

 various aquatic plants were lodged on a stray patch of sedi- 

 ment, and took root and germinated and sprung up and lived 

 their little day, ai other plauts have lived, aud then died, but 

 not for decay. By that most curious of nature's secret pro- 

 cesses — the process of petrefaction — they were transformed 

 into the rock which surrounded them. Along with them va- 

 rious species of mollusks, drawing their last breaths on this 

 growing rock, were endowed with the immortality of the 

 eternal hills. And now, after all these ages, the chisel of 

 the geologist and the hatchet of the curiosity-seeker are pry- 

 ing open their rock-bound mausoleums, and exposing to pub- 



lie view ibeir curiously sculptured forms. Is. it not. a thought 

 to inspire (lie dull 

 We encamped in a little ravine opening into these bluffs, 

 ring slicks for a tire that my attention 

 was attracted by a piece of fossiliferous rock, which led me 

 to examine the cliff itself. I found many specimens, both of 

 plants of various species ('mostly crinoids) and of shells. 

 The loose debris forming the base of the cliff contained many, 

 but generally inferior in size and preservation. I found that 

 as I proceeded up toward the head of the cliff, the plants 

 grew less abundant and the large shells more numerous, I 

 knocked off as many aud as large pieces as I could with the 

 small hatchet which served me as a geological hammer until 

 1 had secured fifty pounds or more. Among other pieces was 

 one nearly as large a? ray head, through which ran a streak 

 of petrified wood. 1 also found a fragment; of a small gcode 

 and a large piece of volcanic rock, and several pieces covered 

 with a curious incrustation, resembling the saliue deposits of 

 Great Salt Lake. The place was a perfect mine of geological 

 treasures. Guy Rivebs. 



* Oar contributor has thrown awav an opportunity for 

 sensation camp yarn by aot letting Caywood aliooi, awaj 

 a blttuCfl Witn a rifle bull, and so releasing the unhappy j 



smmtm 



TRANSPORTATION OF ALEWIFE EGGS 



United States Commission, Fish and Fisheries, t 

 Washington. D. 0., April 9, 1ST:) ^ I 



Dear Sir— The authorities of the Deutsche FUterei-l'erem 

 are much interested in a suggestion of the great economical 

 value of the American alewife, or fresh-water herring, and the 

 possibility of its introduction into Germany. As the experi- 

 ments with the shad have shown that it is almost or entirely 

 impossible to carry the young fish of the Clupeidm across the 

 ocean, it will Ire necessary to depend upon the transportation 

 of the eggs. But as these, under ordinary circumstances, will 

 hatch out before half the voyage is accomplished, the experi- 

 ment of lowering the temperature of the medium in which 

 they are transported has been suggested. 



Dr. Meyer, of Kiel, has made many experiments on the re- 

 tarding of development in the sea herring, and has succeeded 

 in arresting any material change for several weeks, and then 

 in hatching out the fish without injury, He thinks a similar 

 treatment will answer in the case of the alewife, and he, as 

 well as the authorities of the Yerein, is anxious that Ameri- 

 can fish culturists should try the experiment, and if successful 

 the Yerein is prepared to take further action in the matter. 



The inclosed in a translation of a communication recently . 

 received from Dr. Meyer, which 1 shall be glad to have you 

 publish in your paper. Yours truly, 



Si-encer F. Baied, Commissioner. 



Ofuu. Hallock, Esq., Editor Forest and Sta-eam, iV. T. 



ITranslartOD.l 



Note tn Reference to the Retabdation of Dkvet.oi'ment 



op Eggs of the American At.tcwife. 



The-German Fischcrei Yerein is very desirous of transport- 

 ing eggs of the American alewife, Pomolobus pseudo -hnrengus, 

 from the United States to Km ope, in order to introduce this 

 fish into German waters. 



I have no doubt that this cau lie done, and I would have pro- 

 posed the experiment this very spring if it did not appear 

 safer to make use of the assistance offered by our American 

 friends in determining in advance whether the mode of trans- 

 porting these eggs, as suggested by me, will be as well 

 adapted to them as it is to the eggs of our brakicamr (brack- 

 ish-water) herring. 



It has been ascertained by repeated accurate experiments 

 that eggs of our herring, Clupea vulgaris, develop slowly in 

 very cold water without losing their vitality. 



If — as very probable — the eggs of the alewife behave in a 

 manner similar to those of our brackish-water herring, they 

 could be kept in good health for more than thirty days after 

 impregnation in water of a temperature of 3(5 to 38 degrees 

 Fah. "They would thus easily endure the passage to Hamburg 

 or Breman, and not hatch before arrival in Germany. 



Doubts have been expressed by American fish culturists 

 whether the eggs of their fresh-water herring may not behave 

 differently from those of our herring, and these doubts would 

 be well founded if the two did not apparently closely resemble 

 each other in many conditions of life. 



Our herring, like the alewife, seeks the fresh water in spring 

 and ascends for many miles ; in fact, as far as it can go. It 

 spawns there, and especially at such places where calm, shal- 

 low water is found with scarcely any salt in it and of a tem- 

 perature, of 70 deg. at the end of the spawning season. In 

 such water, and at such a temperature, the eggs hatch in five 

 or six days. It is with such eggs I have made my experi- 

 ments. I kept part of the eggs taken from the same fish in 

 cold water and part in warm, and it was more difficult to pre- 

 vent spoiling in warm water than in cold. Any damage by 

 cold only occurred at a temperature below 33 deg. F., and a 

 change into warmer water from cold was not injurious, mere- 

 ly hastening the development, which means from the warm 

 into the cold. It would be of great interest to the German 

 Fischcrei Yerein to know whether, in spite of the great simi- 

 larity of spawning-times and places, as well as of the physical 

 properties of its waters, like experiments with the eggs of the 

 alewife would give different results. H this were not the 

 case, to a considerable degree, nothing would prevent the 

 transportation of these eggs, and, in all probability, also the 

 t other summer fish might easily endure long journeys 

 without harm. 



For greater convenience 1 will give a more detailed account 

 of my experiments; but before doing so I would, mention that all 

 the eggs spoiled when esposed to cold were only covered with 

 moist cloth or wet cotton. I obtained, however, favorable 

 results whenever the eggs wore kept under water. For arti- 

 ficial fecundation 1 only took entirely ripe fish or such as dis- 

 charged their sexual prflductfl under the lightest pressure; 

 these 1 mixed by stirring briskly together in a large, shallow 

 wooden bucket,' which I Ibe boat while the net 



was drawn. At the bottom of the bucket were placed panes 

 of thick window-glass, upon whirh the impregnated eggs de- 

 scended and firmly adhered. 



N. B.— Itis of greatest importance to introduce only a few 

 eegs at a time into the bucket, in order to have only a thin 

 layer upon the glass plates. If the eggs, accumulate at some 

 places they must be scraped off with a pliable knife to avoid 

 putrefaction, when clustering in large heaps, 



One-quarter of an hour after the impregnation the glass 

 plates are taken from the bucket aud placed into small 

 earthern dishes, where they are kept uuder water and at such 

 p. temperature as is considered sufficiently low to retn 



