FOREST AND STREAM 



m 



has been SO, 000 ; blue-backed trout, 4,000 ; black bass, about 

 CTG - California salmon, 300,000, 



The expeiieneeof the last two years, the Commissioners 

 think, has demonstrated that New Hampshire's fish cultural 

 work demands the appointment of a board, as the three 

 present Commissioners have found abundant labor for their 

 hands. They petition the Legislature to extend the protection 

 of salmon to the first of July, 1882, or for five years from the 

 time of the first appearance of full-grown salmon. This is in 

 ace id with the views of the convention of the New England 

 Fish Culturists in Boston, last February, and appears to us to 

 be a most wise and desirable provision, if satisfactory results 

 arc expected to accrue from former efforts in this direction. 



The present summer will probably determine the habits of 

 the California salmon, Mr. Powers thinks that they went 

 down to salt water last year when one year old. The Atlantic 

 salmon of former plantings are also due this year. 



Efforts to secure California mountain trout and Michigan 

 grayling have as yet. proved unsuccessful, but the attempt will 

 not be abandoned in the future. There has been some feeling 

 i-t the introduction of so many foreign fish into New 

 Hampshire waters, but the black bass culture Las proved only 

 a partial success and their rapid increase in the Merrimack and 

 Connecticut may be apprehended as a detriment to the culture 

 of salmon and shad in those streams. Commissioners Web- 

 ber, Hayes and Powers extend a cordial invitation to visitors 

 to inspect the hatching-house, and they close their report with 

 the correct list of State Commissioners, published in the For- 

 est AMD Stileam last April. 



K *> — 



That Hudson Salmos,— Concerning the alleged capture of 

 a salmon in the Hudson reported by us last week an Albany 

 correspondent writes to clear up any doubts of its being a true 

 salmon : 



In your iBsue of the 19lh inst. you ask if the man who caught 

 the salmon near here knew what it was ? As the same was 

 on exhibition on the stand of Mr, Thomas, a prominent fish 

 d.jiler here, and viewed by many who knew what they were 

 looking, at, brother Seth may rejoice for the good he has done, 

 as there is now no doubt that we have the genuine article this 

 time. In hopes they may multiply and give us a chance in a 

 few years to enjoy some sport in the capture of this lordly 

 fish I am, with hearty congratulations to Mr. Green, thank- 

 fully yours, DfiXTEE. 

 . — *#* — . 



Pennsylvania— Rrie, June. 18.— The Northwestern Penn- 

 sylvania Game and Fish Association deposited ten thousand 

 land-locked salmon in the Bay to-day. 1 will keep you posted 

 on their progress. Skips, 



(inAYLlNO in Ohio.— A Toledo gentleman, Mr. J. W. 

 Oswald, has just deposited in Cold Creek at Castalia, near 

 Sandusky, twenty-eight fine specimens of the Michigan gray- 

 ling, ranging from six to eight inches in length. They were 

 brought from the Au Sable River by Mr. Oswald in cans, 

 sucb°as are used for transferring fry from point to point. 

 Cold Creek is a clear, rapid stream formed by three large 

 springs which discharge about one hundred aud fifty gallons 

 of water per minute, and as it is from thirty to forty teet in 

 •width and two and a half miles long before it discharges into 

 the warm and muddy waters of Sandusky Bay, it not only 

 furnishes an admirable place to test the transplanting of the 

 grayling, but is so guarded as to prevent any possibility of 

 their escape. Great interest is fell here in the experiment. 



I heir escape. 

 Toledo, June 21, 1879. 



J. B. B. 



Wisconsin— Madison, June 18.— Dr. H. R. Hoy, of Ra- 

 cine, one of the original Fish Commission, has resigned bis 

 position'. The Governor has accepted bis resignation, but 

 has not yet appointed a successor. Br. Hoy was noted for 

 the deep interest he evinced in the work. Rover. 



—Forty thousand young California salmon were planted in 

 Green Lake. June 19. Experiments have demonstrated that 

 they thrive in inland waters. 



fttml Jjisterg* 



THE ARMADILLO IN TEXAS. 



Fort Shaw, M. T., May 27, 1879. 

 Editor Forest ami Stream : 



In the number of Forest and Stream for May 15, 1 notice 

 a letter from Major H. W. Merrill in regard to the occurrence 

 of the armadillo in Texas, in which it is stated that the speci- 

 men referred to is probahly the first one taken within the 

 limits of the United Stares. During a residence of about 

 three years on the lower Rio Grande, at Fort Brown, I found 

 this curious animal quite abundant, though not very often 

 seen, owing to its retiring and partially nocturnal habits. 

 They were sometimes killed by the soldiers while in camp 

 and on scouts, and living specimens were not infrequently 

 Offered for sale by Mexicans. Exactly bow far its range ex- 

 tended into Texas I am unable to say, but probably Atascosa 

 County is very near its northern limit. 



J. C. Merrill, Ass't Surg., IT. S. A. 



Fort Bbown, Texas, May 24, 1879. 



Editor FOBEST and Stream: 



The article clipped from the San Antonio Repress and pub- 

 lished in your paper of May 15, surprised me very much. 

 The cachicamo, or armadillo, is certainly not a curiosity in 

 Western Texas. It is to be found in every canebrake on the 

 Rio Grande, and last winter, while hunting on the Arroyo 

 Colorado— thirty miles back from the Rio Grande— we fre- 

 quently met with it in the woods. It often interfered with our 

 coon hunting, as the dogs would get off n n the track of an 

 armadillo, and valuable time would be lost. The flesh of the 

 young animal is considered by some as fit to cat, but there is 

 a strong, musky odor that is almost impossible to disguise. 

 They are offered for sale in our streets at two bits apiece. 



HlDAiGO, 



ALBINISM. 



Si. .kisbi-u, Mo., January IS, 137'.', 



m-TiR POIVEST ANn Stream: 



1 have been somewhat Interested In (he discussion which has been 

 earrled on through your columns of late upon the till ject of albinism, 

 and the communication of "Mic Mac" in your issue of the 2d fnBl., 

 with your editorial comments, have suggested to me the idea of sub- 

 duing my views upon tile phenomena described. 



It seerua to me to be a solecism to use the phrase " partial albinism." 



3 the phenomena you have described under that designation are 

 clearly refetrlble to l;bo well-understood operation of natural law. 

 Tberheory of natural selection presupposes the existence of certain 

 lawa which, in their anticipated operation, would produce from time 

 io time just such effects. These vagaries, which wear Mich an appear- 

 ance of being the product of chance, aie the effect of laws as well es- 

 tablished as ihoae which decree ihe uniform coloration of each species. 

 Of com se, I know tnat there is much to be said againBt the theory of 

 natural eeleetion and the evolution hypothesis in general, and I have 

 no desire to provoke a discussion of the Bubleet. But I will assume 

 the truth of the theory, aud by so doing, I thlnXIcan offer a solution 

 ofthe problem of the frequent variation from the specific type which 

 no other mode of reasoning can afford. Besides, I trilnx the general 

 acceptance of the theory by scientific men warrants Its employment. 



The whole theory has been well epitomized by Mr. Mtvart as follows : 

 "Every kind of animal and plant tends to increise in numbers by 

 geometrical progression ; every kind of animal and plant transmits a 

 general likeness, with iudivldoal differences, to its offspring; every 

 individual may present minute variations of any kind in any direction; 

 past time haB been practically infinite ; every individual has to endure 

 a severe struggle for existence, owing to the tendency to geometrical 

 increase of all kindB of animals and plants, while the total animal ar.d 

 vegetable popnlatioa— man and his agency excepted— remains sta- 

 tionary, ' 



The most prominent factors in the process of evolution are: First, 

 heredity, or the tendency of the offspring to assume the general form 

 of the parent ; second, Indefinite variation, or the tendency of the off- 

 spring to exhibit Individual differences from the parent; and third, 

 the intense Birnggle for existence, which Berves to extinguish all 

 unfavorable variations by the destruction of the affected individual. 

 The last two factors are what we have most to do with in this investi- 

 gation. 



I have Been many of the phenomena which your correspondent 

 terms partial alblnoea, and like him, I have observed it most in birds. 

 There Is no bird probably whose safety depends so much on its color 

 as the quail, and yet I have observed this tendency to variation oftenrr 

 in the quail than in auy other species. I have found them, or seen 

 specimens, varying from snow-white by almost regular gradations into 

 their true color, but never once did I observe the unmistakable albino 

 mark of want of pigment in the Iris. 



Now, the struggle for existence is so Intense in ail conditions of 

 life which arenot biought within the disturbing influence of man's 

 control, that all animal life wears the hue best suited to the conditions 

 surrounding li, whether Its color be chiefly valuable to it in its hiding 

 from its enemies, in concealing it from its prey, or in furnishing 

 it with sexual charms. This perpetual ttruggle serves to repress any 

 variation from the safest pae— uio.it notably in the instance of the 

 quail, whose principal safeguard is the concealment afforded by its 

 protective resemblance to tn« objects among which It has its habitat. 

 The slightest freak of nature which would change its color, even In 

 the most Inconsiderable degree, would, to that extent, diminish its 

 power of concealment, and s i setve io point it out to its enemies, the 

 hawks and foxes. It Is, therefore, highly impropable that any unfor- 

 tunate individual marked with an unfavorable variation in color 

 would live through a cycle of seasons, aud succeed in propagating 

 offspring. If, however, it should do so, some ol its offspring 

 descendants wr.uld most probably exhibit the same peculiarity, either 

 to the same eitent or in a somewhat modified degree. Mr. Darwin 

 earnestly argues that the development by natural selection is only the 

 result of the minutest variations ; and It is probably true that no i 

 den and marked changes are beneficial in the struggle for life, although 

 Professor Huxley expresses the belief that Nilnre "does make consid- 

 erable Jumps in the way of variation bow and then, and these saltations 

 give rUe to some of the gaps which appear to exist la the series of 

 known forms." Mr. Darwin does not say that these freaks donot occur, 

 but argues that they cannot, in the nature of things, be favorable to 

 the individual, and accordingly, are not likely 10 be the stanlng-points 

 of new species, 



Tae explanation I would offer for the frequent recurrence of these 

 " partial albinoes " is that they are perfectly healthy and normal speci- 

 mens, exhibiting a greater variation from Ihe parent type than 

 ordinarily occurs, and which being, lu all likelihood, unfavorable ones, 

 will be speedily repressed by exposing the individual to dangers or 



rivations which those of his fellows who have the true color of Ids 

 species escape. This is well illustrated iu domesticated animals, 

 which, being protected by the hand of man from their enemies and 

 supplied with food, vary in color Indefinitely, in other words, the 

 principle of heredity In the struggle for existence overcomes the ten- 

 dency to variation, and preserves uniformity of color in each species, 

 while the removal of the necessity of struggling for life enables the ten- 

 dency to vary to overcome the tendency to strict tnheitance. Pigeons 

 furnish the best examples of this, as their origin can be most directly 

 traced to the parent Btock, which was as fixed In Its coloration as any 

 species now remaining wild. While; therefcre, the pigeon had to 

 depend entirely npoa its own resources tor food and projection, the 

 severe reqairementB of the struggle for existence preserved a complete 

 lixlty in ItB coloration, and destroyed ail departures from the uniform 

 dress of ihe species; but as soon as the necessity for entering into ihe 

 struggle for lite was removed by the protecting hand of man, the law 

 of uniform coloration was abrogated, and domesiicated species ran 

 Into an eudiess variety of colora. As the theory r have advanced, as 

 above stated, 18 that these partial albinoes are simply Individuals vary- 

 ing more than usual from the specldc type, aud that su'Jh vanatluns 

 will doom them to an early death from danger or privation, it would be 

 Interesting to Know if any of your readers have ever observed a speci- 

 men ranging far from the specific type which had retched the age of 

 a year or more in ItB wild Btate. 



The term albino "■« still a mystery to scienoe, but I believe the best 

 established theory is that it la a disease. It occurs pretty generally 

 throughout all animal life, but not with anything like Hie frequency 

 of the phenomena which I think you have misnamed partial a binism. 



M. 

 Our correspondent's letter is interesting and ingenious, but, 

 to our mind, unsatisfactory as an explanation of the phenom- 

 enon to which it refers. It would be difficult, we think, at 

 the present day, to find many students of science who do not 

 accept the Evolution hypothesis, and with it Natural selection, 

 as accounting for most of the changes that have occurred in 

 animal life in the past and of those which we see going on 

 about us today. But it the white feathers which occur so 

 frequently in birds of normally dark plumage are to be ex- 

 plained by the inherent tendency to variation which exists in 



all animals, why Is it that this variation is so frequently in 

 one direction ? "Why do we not bear of birds, say quail, be- 

 ing killed which have the plumage partly red, blue or green ? 

 We never see such cases. Abnormally colored birds are usu- 

 ally more or less white, or pale by the mixture of white with 

 their normal colors. More rarely we find them black, or dark 

 by the washing of the plumage with some shade of brown or 

 black ; a state which we term melanism. The variation is al- 

 most always iu one or the other of these directions. 



At present when so little ia known of the phenomena to 

 which this communication refers, it is perhaps hardly worth 

 while to discuss the question as to whether the phrase " par 

 tial albinism" is or is not strictly correct. We have used it 

 simply as a convenient term to characterize the partial white- 

 ness which is so frequently seen in the lower mammals and 

 birds, and as the same term has been used by leading ornithol- 

 ogists in the same connection it seems well enough for the 

 present to continue to employ it. 



"THE FISHER AND THE 'BLACK 

 CAT.' " 



„ „ Weston, Vt, May 10, 1879. 



Editoe Fobest and Stbeam : 



I wish to say a few words, mainly corroborativo of points made by 

 "Penobscot" in ills Interesting paper In a recent issue. I have 

 trapped the fisher and the black cat the past thirty years, and always 

 supposed them to he one and the same animal. I always made it a 

 point to question experienced fur buyers— whom 1 supposed knew 

 their business— and was so iuformed. With me, thf y occur in pairs 

 ao that If a solitary one is trap ped, its mate is almost invariably taken 

 directly after in the same trap or one in the vicinity. The female is 

 about a tbh-d smaller than the male, and always— at the same season- 

 In better color. I never caught a female iu the proper sessonotf color, 

 bnt some males were almost wholly as gray as an old, faded coon or 

 woojehuck. All Ihe tracks I have seen were like those of the mink— 

 in pairs, as " Penobscot " says. What is most remarkable ia the small 

 Blze of those taken in this section compared with those of Maine and 

 Canada. Unlit of late I was not aware that the spejlea attained 

 a weight of forty, or even thirty, pounds, though buyers told me that 

 the same species In places above named were much the largest. I 

 have never taken one weighing more than ten pounds. I agree with 

 " Penobscot " that they are not plenty, but account for it on different 

 grounds, namely, Its fondness for the flesh of the porcupine, whoao 

 quills ollen prove fatal to it. I have several times found the quills 

 buried In their todies, besides quantities of flesh, hair and gulls In the 

 stomach and excremtnis, and from this gained a point In baiting 

 them: let other trappera try it. They are an agile, muscular animal 

 Jumping from tree to tree like a squirrel, clearing a distance of forty 

 feet in a descending leap, never falling a secure grip. 



CoapoKAL Lot Wahfield, 



That Duck.— We have received from Mr. G. M. Fair- 

 child, Jr., a printed slip from the Quebec C'/Mwiwfecontaining 

 a description of a duck shot near the town of Winnipeg, by 

 Mr. J. P. Neilson's son. The description would scarcely 

 agree with any known species of North American duck, for 

 the coloring is very curious ; but we learn from Dr. Coues, 

 who has seen a colored drawing of the head, that the speci- 

 men is merely a partially albinotic wood duck (Aix sponsa). 



Catalogue of the Birds of the Lesser Antilles.— Mr. 

 Geo. N. Lawrence, whose valuable papers on the birds of the 

 various islands of the Lesser Antilles, visited by Mr. Ober, 

 have been noticed from time to time as they appeared in the 

 columns of Forest and Stream, has published in the pro- 

 ceedings of the U. S. Natl. Museum a final catalogue of the 

 species found, with a table showing their distribution and 

 ihoae found in the United States. The whole number of 

 birds noted is 123 of which 37 were found in Barbuda, 43 in 

 Antigua, 45 in Guadeloupe, 57 in Dominica, 39 in Martinique, 

 53 in St. Tincentand 54 in Grenada, Of the 128 >peries 

 found in these islands by Mr. Ober 53 occur in the United 

 States, 



The (separate catalogues, of which the present one is a con- 

 densation, were published in the Proceedings of the United 

 States National Museum, Volume I, Washington, and occupy 

 pp. 40-69; 185-198; 232-242; 205-278; 349-360; 449-463. 



The Fishes of Essex County, Mass.— Professor Goode 

 and Mr. Bean have done good service not only to ichthyolo- 

 gists, but to the general public as well, in publishing, in the 

 Essex Bulletin, their catalogue of the Fishes of Essex County, 

 which includes besides those of Massachusetts Bay and the 

 contiguous deep waters. The list, which includes 183 species, 

 is certainly a most interesting paper, and cannot fail to be of 

 great service to students of ichthyology. It has been brought 

 down and completed to March 1, 1879 and includes the dis- 

 coveries and additions to our fauna made by the U. S. Fish 

 Commission tip to that date. The authors in their prefatory 

 note pay a high compliment to the zeal and energy of the 

 Gloucester fishermen through whose efforts many of the speci- 

 mens in the National Museum have been procured. Too 

 much credit cannot be given to men who amid the hardships 

 and constant work of a fishing voyage still remember the in 

 teresta of science. The notes on, and synonomy of the various 

 species mentioned in this list are quite full, the latter at least 

 sufficiently so to guide the student to the works where fuller 

 details may be obtained. At the end cf the paper are given 

 tabular lisls showing the faunal relations of the species 

 enumerated, aud a very full index is appended. The catalogue 

 is certainly a very valuable contribution to our knowledge. 



Tim Yellow-breasted Rail— New York, May 5.— A few 

 days ago, while on the Hackensack Meadows, looking for 

 snipe, my dog pointed what I at fir»t took to be a mouse, but 

 turned out to be a rail. It seemed unwilling to rise, until the 

 dog moved almost on top of it, and then wont off like a lazy 



