52 



FOREST AND STEEAM. 



v* New Jersey. — Kinsey's Ashley House, Barnegat Inlet, 

 August 21th, — The week opened very favorably with blue- 

 fish, and good catches were made on Monday, Tuesday and 

 Wednesday. We are having splendid success with the 

 barb, or kingfish, running from 1 to 1£ pounds. Sheeps- 

 head dull; weakfish ditto; striped bass are getting plenty 

 and good catches reported. B. 



— On last Thursday, Mr. Wm. Embick, while fishing in 

 the Conococheague creek, near Chambersburg, Pa., suc- 

 ceeded in hauling out nine very fine bass, the three largest 

 of which measured fourteen inches in length. They were 

 caught with hook and line. 

 $ — The following note is from an esteemed friend, Geo. 

 H. Johnson, of the White Manufacturing Company, 

 Bridgeport, Ct. Our readers may expect,, some pleasant 

 letters from him: — 



Indian Lakh P. O., Hamilton Co., N. Y., Sunday, Aug. 20th. 

 We reached this charming spot at li o'clock last evening, groping our 

 way through almost impenetrable darkness and rain, which continued 

 un i il 10 o'clock this morning. The route hence is via Adirondack Rail- 

 road from Saratoga to North Greek, where W. D. Wakeley's very com- 

 fortable stages are in waiting upon the arrival of the noon train. The 

 ride through the country was very pleasant despite the weather, and we 

 thorouguly enjoyed the constantly changing scenery, which every turn of 

 the road brought to view. This is the shortest and best route to reach 

 Blue Mountain Lake and Racquette. There are over 100 guests at the 

 Blue Mountain House. Mr. E. R. Wallace, author of "Guide to the 

 Adirondacks," left there yesterday. They re ort fishing and hunting 

 pretty fair, one party having caught six trout weighing over 18 pounds. 

 There are more deer in this vicinity than theie has been in several years 

 past. We start in the morning for the Indian Clearing on the headwa- 

 ters of Moose river, a locality 17 miles distant, and but rarely visited by 

 campers on account of its difficulty of access. We take one of Fenner's 

 portable boats with us, and of our success with it and the sport to be 

 found there we propose to acquaint you hereafter. Huntington. 



A REMARKABLE FISHING ADVEN- 

 TURE. 



Brooklyn, N. Y., August 2M. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



I send you a paradoxical story for the Forest and Stream. Although 

 it is about the biggest uah story of all yet set afloat, it is in my belief 

 true. Being true it ought to be given to your readers. 



Thirty years ago Mr. Barney Collins, then 50 years of age, was a resi- 

 ident of county Cavan, Ireland, an adept in all that was in that age and 

 locality known about forest and stream. One day Mr. Collins deter- 

 mined to fish for such catches as the lake might offer upon that renowned 

 sheet of fresh water known to every Irish sportsman as Lough Sheelan. 

 A casnal glance at any map of Ireland will enable anyone to locate for 

 himself this beautiful lake. It is about ten miles long by four miles 

 wide. Cavan, Longford and W-Meath are the counties which border 

 upon this lake . Mr. Collins spent the entire day upon the lake in a 

 small boat ten feet in length (the why of this particularity will soou ap- 

 pear) without gettiiig so much as a nibble. Precisely at 6 o'clock p. m. 

 his little boat's prow struck the shore and Barney beean to prepare his 

 traps for his tramp homeward. In spirit he was vexed, and suddenly 

 seizing his fishing pole— an elegant affair, mounted with a triple multi- 

 plying reel and a three-ply horse hair line, hand made, 75 yards in length 

 —and grasping the line a few feet from the end, with a good old Irish 

 expletive testifying of his vexation, he whipped the water once by 

 the side of his boat. Instantly his line began to reel off at frightful 

 speed. Carefully manipnlating his pole he let the line pay out, looking 

 for the time when he might reel in. But to his surprise the fish 

 took every yard of his line, and when he felt the strain was too severe 

 he dropped his pole into the water, and instantly seizing his oars gave 

 chase. In a short time he captured the pole, but not by any means as 

 yet the fish. His prey took the boat in tow, and actually dragged it six 

 timed around the lake besides crossings and criss-ciossings too numerous 

 to mention. All night long Mr. Collins sailed over Lough Sheelan and 

 all the next day until 4 o,clock p. m., when he succeeded in killing nis 

 game in true sportsmanlike style. His game proved to be a six pound 

 lake trout— nothing more and nothing less. 



At the instant he whipped the lake in his vexation because of his day 

 of ill success, he hooked the trout by the tail. Twenty- two hours to 

 kill a six-pound trout when hooked by the tail; suctt at least is the 

 morale of this tale. 



You need not hesitate to publish this story as a fact. Mr. John Hanna 

 of Brooklyn, gave it me as a reminiscence of his boyhood days. He 

 says there are yet living many good and true men who will corroborate 

 his statement word for word. C. Hatch Smith. 



latnml §fi$torg. 



SCIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



OPENING OF THE QUARTER CENTENNIAL OF THE AMERICAN 

 ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE — AB- 

 STRACTS OF THURSDAY'S PAPERS. 

 » ■■■■ ♦ 



Buffalo, Aug. 25, 1876. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: — 



The city has grown suddenly wise and serious in def- 

 erence to the presence of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, which is now holding its 

 annual session here. The attendance is exceptionally large, 

 particularly of the older members, who were among its 

 founders. Prof. Wm. B. Rogers, the President, has re- 

 turned to the pursuit of scientific knowledge, in which, he 

 rightly says, there is no satiety, after an absence of 10 

 years enforced by ill health; Prof. Joseph Henry, the first 

 President, is here and many others of equal eminence, if 

 not age, might be named. Another feature is the presence 

 of a large number of distinguished foreign men of science 

 who have been at Philadelphia. The most generally known 

 of these, perhaps is Professor Thomas Huxley, the cor- 

 dialty and enthusiasm of whose reception is manifested in a 

 thousand ways. He has not said very much, and very lit- 

 tle of his studies, but he compliments highly the work of 

 American naturalists, particularly of Prof. Marsh, of New 

 Haven, whose investigations among the fossils of the West, 

 he says, make absolutely certain what before was only spe- 

 culation in the theory of the development of animals. The 

 routine of organization was got through with on Wednes- 

 day, and in the evening a very large audience gathered in 

 St. James's Hall to listen to the annual addresses. That of 

 Prof Young was a review of the progress in astromony 

 during the past century. Prof. E. S. Morse, of Salem, 

 Mass , one of the Vice Presidents of the Association, also 

 delivered an address on the Evolution Theory as expounded 

 by Darwin, which was the most remarkable and interest- 

 ing thing thus far given. 



The address was divided into two parts, first a review of 

 the contributions of Americans to this theory; second, the 

 evidences which support it. For many years the study of 

 zoology in this country was at alow ebb. Its votaries con- 

 fined themselves to making inventories and classifying. 

 Prof. Morse, who was himself a pupil of Prof. Agassiz, 

 regards the advent of that distinguished philosopher in this 

 country as the turning point in biological science. He in- 

 sisted that these labors of observation should be made 

 available to explain the phenomena and relations of life. 

 He ridiculed the mere accumulation of records of specific 

 or varietal differences in animals. Such observations were 

 but means to a greater end. He opposed with all his might 

 the development theory, and offered instead one in which 

 he has had no followers. He believed in several distinct 

 creations of men and animals. He declared that the reason- 

 ing which would overthrow a plurality of origins for the 

 races of men, would effect the same result wiih animals 

 and would ultimately result in acknowledging the descent 

 of man from monkeys. Most of his pupils have accepted 

 theories of evolution. 



Prof. Morse gave an admirable resume of the contribu- 

 tions of Americans to the Darwinian cause. All those whose 

 works he quoted were not, however, necessarily Darwinists. 

 The citations covered a wide range and brought into vipw 

 the labors of a large circle of eminent naturalists and pale- 

 ontologists. To each of these Prof. Morse gave as fair 

 credit as the limits ot his address would permit. It is an 

 astonishing array and is for the first time brought together. 

 The evidences cited are comparatively near to us and they 

 are more effective m forcing conviction than those from a 

 distant hemisphere. Summing up all these and other 

 proofs of the evolution theory, Prof. Morse appealed to 

 the unbiassed judgment of his hearers. The argument in- 

 cluded all the well known tenets of the Darwinians and 

 was especially strong in tracing the elevation of man and 

 the ape-like form preceding him, to their superiority of in- 

 telect developed under The pressure of circumstances. 

 Their brains, not their muscular superiority saved them 

 from being the prey of the strong beasts around them. 

 The growth of man from the solitary savage to the social 

 conlition was also reviewed. The necessities of the infants 

 of the human race for care and protection, laid the basis 

 for family relations and made man a social being. Finally, 

 the address closed with a deduction from the law of 

 heredity — a warning against any 33 stem of pardoning or 

 releasing criminals that would place them where they 

 could propagate children like themselves, in whom the in- 

 herited traits of their bestial ancestors would be again and 

 again revealed. 



On Thursday morning the different Sections into which 

 the Association is divided organized and got to work. Sec- 

 tion A is that Physics and Chemistry with Subsections of 

 (Jhemistry and Microscopy; Section B is Geology and 

 Natural History with a Subsection of Anthropology. 

 Section B is, of course, the one whose proceedings most 

 interest the readers of Forest and Stream, and it seems 

 to be the popular one here, its meetings being filled with 

 ladies and gentlemen living in the city, as well as including 

 the majority of the members of the Association. Prof. 

 Morse is President, and makes a capital one. Yesterday 

 several papers were read of general interest, besides others 

 of more value to specialists. The first of these was by 

 Capt. W. H. Dall, of Alaska fame, on 'he mode of extru- 

 sion of the eggs in limpets — the little conical shells which 

 cling so lightly to the rocks between tide-lines on the New 

 England coast. The oviduct of Cuvier does not appear 

 to exist, and no other means of exit appearing, the method 

 by which the eggs reached the surrounding medium has 

 remained a mystery. The ovary is covered with a thin 

 membrane and hangs in the visceral cavity touching, but 

 not mechanically connecting with, the floor of the large 

 renal sac. Mr. Dall discovered that in the great Mexican 

 limpet the ovary or testis becomes congested over a por- 

 tion of its surlace, which swells and becomes pustular; 

 over this congested portion the ova or sperm rinds its way 

 through certain small temporary perforations, into the 

 renal sac, from whence its exit is easy via the external dis- 

 charging orifice of the renal, or kidney sac. A somewhat 

 similar state of things is known to exist in some low forms 

 of fish and mollusks, but Us occurrence among the limpets 

 is quite new and unexpected. The following papers were 

 read in their order: — 



Notes on the North American Ganoids; (a) the supposed transforma- 

 tion of tke tail of Amia; {b) ihe serrated appendages of the hyoid 

 isthmus of Amia; b> Bun G. Wilder. 



Origin of Karnes orEskers in New Hampshire, by Warren Upham. 



Note upon the Geological position ol the Serpentine Limestone of 

 Northern New Yoik, and an inquiry regarding the relations of this 

 Limestone to the Eozoon Limestone of Canada, by Prof . James Hall. 



Prof. Wilder's paper upon Amia (the mudfish) showed 

 how nearly it was related 10 the gar pike or "billfish" of 

 the west iu many particulars, especially when young. The 

 curious buckler underneath its throat seems to be a rem- 

 nant of the armor which many of the old ganoid fishes of 

 the Devonian seas wore, which has outliveu its usefulness. 

 Several arguments were derived lrom the anatomy of the 

 tail, and its changes in the growth of the fish, to show 

 that a series of similar changes had gradually affected the 

 permanent shape of the tail in the development of the 

 whole family as shown in the fossil series from the older to 

 the newer rocks; and pointing toward the conclusion that 

 the "sturgeon-like" tail was the original form, which in the 

 bony fishes has become rnodifh d into the ordinary heterocer- 

 cal tail (of the perch, for instance) where the backbone 

 ends at the beginning of the tail fin. 

 [To be continued.] 



Animals Formerly at Cape May.— In 1857 the Geo- 

 logical Survey of New Jersey published a volume upon the 

 geology of Cape May county, for which Thos. Beesley 

 furnished a list of the birds and animals of that extremity 

 of the State. The book is now very rare. Among the 

 larger animals, the opossum, weasel, raccoon, skunk, mink, 

 gray fox, musk-rat, and gray "rabbit" {Lepus americanus) 

 are given as not rare or common; the otter was "by no 

 means rare, but on account of its cunning and shyness 

 seldom captured;" the red fox was "seldom taken;" the 

 blacR bear was put down as "quite plentiful at certain 

 periods, particularly in the dense cedar swamps in the up- 

 per part of the county," five having been shot that autumn. 

 All of the squirrels are included in ihe list, with the remark 

 "not abundant," and a few deer were said yet to remain in 

 the northern part of the county. The wild cat {Lynx 

 rufus) was rare. 



Habits op the Prairie Dog —I notice in your issue of 

 July 13th, an article on the Prairie Dog, by Maj. Merrill 

 in which he appears to be of opinion that these singular 

 little animals cannot be trained or domesticated. On these 

 points some information may prove interesting to your 

 readers. In 1867, and for several years afterwards I 

 was stationed at Fort Lyon, Col. About May of that year 

 one of the men brought my son a young prairie dog, we 

 judged about two months old. He was at once christened 

 Dick, and soon became the pet of every one in and out 

 of the house. I found but little trouble in teaching 

 him, and in a short time he would sit up on his hind legs 

 jump up in our laps, and do other things at command. He 

 very soon learned where the cake was kept in the side- 

 board, would go to it, sit up and bam until some one of 

 the family responded to his call; nor would he so away or 

 stop his noise until his wants were supplied. He at first 

 made his burrow in front of the house but for reasons best 

 known to himself soon abandoned it, selecting a more 

 secure place under the house. On entering the house if 

 I wanted him, I would strike on the floor and call him'by 

 name; he would at once answer by a quick, sharp bark 

 and soon after come in through the most convenient open- 

 ing, and at once run up to me, sometimes sitting up 

 and barking to express his pleasure, at other times climb- 

 ing up and seating himself on my shoulder. He would 

 jump upon the lounge and stretch himself out alongside of 

 us for a snooze. He was very found of playing with my 

 dogs — would romp as one of them. He was generally quiet 

 and kind, but would sometimes show his disapproval of what 

 we were doing to him by snapping at us. Dick was fond 

 of milk but I do not recollect that he ever used water. 

 Much to the regret of my family and all the officers and 

 ladies of the Post (for he was a general favorite) a rat terrier 

 mistook him for a rat and before we could prevent it killed 

 him. 



I know of an officer who sent a pair of prairie dogs to his 

 relatives near Cincinnati, where they were turned loose on 

 the lawn. They soon became at home and tame, affording 

 much amusement to the family and visitors, and if I am 

 not mistaken, propagated. From the large number I have 

 seen tamed and my own experience with them, I am fully 

 convinced that, if taken when young, they can be domes- 

 ticated. As remarked by the Major, these little fellows are 

 very ingenious in building their homes. In most of those 

 I have seen dug out, the hole is in the shape of an inverted 

 syphon, the long arm opening out of the surface. The 

 oiher end is enlarged into a chamber, and here is where 

 they bring forth their young, and is their home. To my 

 mind the reason for this shape is obvious. Many and many 

 a time have 1 seen the attempt made to drown them out, 

 and though barrel after barrel of water has been used, 

 seldom has it met with success. The chamber at the short 

 end, acting as an air chamber prevented the entrance of 

 the water. Plume del Rosa. 



Post Canby, Alexandria, La. 



«+«» ■ — ■■ — i 



BIRDS OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. 



[Continued from page 86. ] 



Bonasa umbellus. Ruffed grouse, or partridge. Not mi- 

 gratory, and common. 



Ortyx virginianus. Quail ; resident throughout the year. 

 Common in Seneca county, but not so much so in Cayuga 

 county Breeds. 



frquatarola helvetica. Black-bellied plover. A rare spring 

 and autumn migrant. 



Oharadrius fwvus. Golden plover. Spring and autumn 

 migrant ; not common. 



JEgialitis vociferus. Killdeer. Summer visitor; arrives 

 in April. 



uffigialitia semipalmatus . Ring plover. Common in 

 spring and autumn. 



Strepsilas mierpres. Turnstone. A rare migrant. 



Phuohela minor. "Woodcock. Common summer so- 

 journer and breeds. It arrives in April and departs in Oc- 

 tober. 



Oailinago Wilsoni. Wilson's snipe. This is a common 

 spring and autumn migrant, arriving in April. It then 

 passes north and returns in August with its young. It re- 

 mains until November, and then proceeds southward to its 

 winter home. 



Tringa minutella. Least sandpiper. Abundant during 

 the spring and fall migrations. 



Limota hudsonica. Hudsonian godwit. The godwit is 

 a rare spnug and autumn migrant. 



Totanus melanoleucus. Greater tell-tale. Common in the 

 spring and autumn migrations, especially in August and 

 September. 



Totanus flavipes. Yellow-shanks. In the fall abundant 

 with the tell-tales. 



Ardea herodias. Great blue heron. Common in summer 

 and arrives in May. It breeds. 



Ardea virescens. Green heron. Arrives in May, ana 

 breeds, but is not very common. 



Nyctiardea grisea. Night heron. A rare visitor. 



Botaurus minor. Bittern. Common in summer and 

 breeds. 



Ardeda exilis. Least bittern. Rat e, but breeds, 



Galiinula galeata. Florida gallinule. A common sum- 

 mer bird, arriving in May and departing in September. 



[he MenmL 



The Centennial Bench Show.— We took advantage of 

 a leisure day to run on to Philadelphia to see what prepa- 

 rations were making for the International Bench Show, 

 and we are glad to announce that in the multitude 01 

 classes which comes under the supervision of the Chief 01 

 the Agricultural Bureau, not one promises a finer display 

 than Class 33, to which our canine friends are assigned. 

 The systematic manner in which the whole thing is arrang- 

 ed and the numbers of entries already registered is mm- 

 cient evidence that a master mind and an expert in ihe 

 "bench show business" is "to the fore." The entries of for- 

 eign and native dogs will run up to near 600, and our 

 American Bench Show will compare favorably with those 

 of Europe. 



