Sbptebmbee 16, 1880. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



^ 129 



farm, would, " like ■weeds, grow apace ;" but the younff 

 raaeala take their time, and plenty of it, in gi-owiiig to 

 ypars of discretion ; yearling troiil range only from tft-o 

 and a lialf to four inches in lenglli, and it is three 

 years helore they reach the size suitable for the ang- 

 ler's ymrpose. iMl this time constant nare in feeding, 

 wateliing ami caring for them generally i:-^ necessary, 

 and. eimsrfjnonlly, time becomes so imiL'ii money to the 

 trout: lireeder, n^ much 80 as it is to tlie city merohHnt. 

 Hence, II le Lirepders slock of fish becomes expensive to 

 l.irn in pro|ii>ii,i(in to each yeax's growth . Seventy-five 

 days of tinir !ur the hatcliing process: forty-fivB days 

 for tlic fish to enter iipon the period when (t looks out 

 fin- itHi'ii oi the vratery world, and tiien ,-i year's growth 

 added Ij^'fnrt ic rrachc- a length of five i'neheh, "shows 

 very plainly how time en(;ers into tlin cosflineR.s of trout 

 bi-eeding. From the rearing toxes the young yearling 

 troni; are let into the little lakelets of "the funn. and 

 there are collected according to their age. I'roru ihese 

 HI time they go to the larger ponds or reservoirs, where 

 they are held for use as occasion may require. 



Caiu' Giiow Hapidlv im Floiuda. — Rixford, Fin. 

 Aug. ~>/h. —Prof. B-iird :~{h=:\r Sir: It will (ioitbtles,s be 

 a ple,-)sure to yon to hfarn that the carp you furnished me 

 with last November are doingfinely. lascertained on my 

 return from Savannah with them, that my pond \va"s 

 not ready for their reception, owing to the I'aet thattliere 

 were many more black bass in it t.h:m I liad suppo.sed. 

 laccordinA-ly conlined I be carp in a pen at the .'^ide of the 

 pond, (giving them water throu'^di holes in (lie side covered 

 with wire netting. A few weeks since I diseovpred that 

 a porrien of the netting had been misplaced and some of 

 them escaped into the pond, and 1 then concluded to let 

 theni all into it, as I had nearly all the baas out. Their 

 growth since tliat time has been simply marvelous. Many 

 ■ eli'veu inches loiiK.'and i feel certain 

 lis fall. Will it be !<,;) much trouble 

 t mc with their habits '.' Do they bed : 

 rietie.s when they spawn 'r I will add 

 -id come to the place where I 

 JVC of pigs would come for 

 there, I am confident 



of them ar 



they will spaw 



for you to acq u 



like some other 



that they seem 



feed llieni as qui'ckly as a d 



corn, whenever they find I 



they will prove a great addition to tlie food fish of the 

 South, and I ahaJl take pleasure in distributing them as 

 soon as they propagate. Very truly, yours, 



Geo. C. Resfokd. 

 Mr. Rixford also writes us as follows ; — 

 It may interest some of 3'oiir readers to learn that the 

 German oarp are thriviag- splendidlyinour waters. Last 

 November I received a lot from Prof. Baird, which I 

 think wer-A I, hen from three to four inches in lenglh. 

 They-M-- ;. ' triiu tea to twelve inches, and ajtpear to 

 make •■ - I ' J- Mvth from day to day. I thmk they are 

 the t;rc>tj ;[ aMiti-.in to Our food fishes that has ever been 

 made. 



Salmon Culture in Maine,— We learn that there are 

 four haadrel liicj breeaiii<silniou ill tlio bi-Heiiin-^ pens 

 of lihe tjaitod Suiles Fish Comiuissioii at Bucksieirt 

 Maine, which is under the care of Mr. Charles (i. Atkins' 

 They are the so-called Penobsool; salmon, S. salar, and 

 .'ire said to be in fine condition for yielding a fair crop 

 , if eggs. 



gm mid giver^ ^Minq, 

 ♦ — 



—Address all cormmmicalions to " I' orest and Stream 

 Publishing Company, New York." 



FLSH IN SJEASON IN SEPTEMBER. 



.,„.;.-'^'"°' ^^''^''"l''''i'ue. (T-,vo 



Iti.ek' B^es, Aiiihlnplites. (Two 



Wai'-moutb, Chmmbryltm guU)- 



Cruppie, Vomnxys nifiromacula- 



Bachelor, Pomttej/s anmilarls. 

 Chub, SumulUis oorjJoriKb. 



HABITS OF AN OREGON SUCKER. 



Astoria, Oregon, Jidy 6th. 



THINKING you might like to receive an account of 

 a very curious lish found in these waters 1 send 

 the followmg, beint;- (;lie sulistance of a reiinrt made to 



tVie IJ. S. F; 

 serving its 

 question hi 

 slender for 

 lariie scale:: 

 shut. 



-til 1 



I was ob- 

 The fish in 



, -' , " ; — — ---, isof rather 



1, has a long and pointed head, ho-fre cye» 

 and deeply forked tail. lis mouth, when 



- ■ 11, less than a half inch in length, but when 



open the lips project, forming a round suckerdike mouth 

 bent slightly downward. Its color is a dark brown on 

 the back, with the under paits of a pearly white • the 

 sides are striped with black and pale silvery yellow 

 with a single narrow stripe of bright orange runiiin«J^ 

 from the lips to tail. A line of orange al.so runs around 

 the edges of the gill covers. .Altogether, there is nothing 

 very strange m iis appearance, and econoniieally it hal 

 no value. It is not known whether it comes from the 

 seaor from the imidiiy sloughs of the tide lands at the 

 mouth of the (Julunibia Rivei, t liough I he lai;tHr is thought 

 to be the case. It comes into the trout streams early in 

 July for the purpose of spawning, seldom y-oluo- more 

 than a half rnile above tidewater, and its \ish: is limited 

 to two weeks in duration. I do not know its scientific 

 name, and it is yuite possible that it has never received 

 one. Locally, it is known as the • ' sucker. " I had found 



a few in a visit made a week prev ions to the one of which .pressive of its specific name (black spotted), provided 



pool was al lout thirty feet by twelve, and in the middle 

 five or six feet deep, its upper end terminating in a long 

 ripple; across it, near the middle, l;iv, .Just "level %^ ith 

 the surface of the water, an old .irrass-Ki-o'w-n low;. Walk- 

 ing on this to where I could look down iiKo the water. I 

 saw such a sight as I had nevei- seen before. I will 

 say that the pool wassoh'd full of suckeis, for riiat w- 

 be more than the truth. To say that thete was a half 

 dozen for every cubic foot of water in tlie pool would 

 probably be less than the truth. MakuiK my \vav (o tlie 

 head of the ripple 1 baited m^- hook and allowed tie- cur- 

 rent to drift it under the loij. It was taken instantly. 



and with a rash and < 



wasineajiidile of, and 

 pleasure of landing a 

 upwards of a foot in L 

 site sirle of the ripi)le. 



square yards. Droppinij the book amo 

 few: uiiuutes I succeeded in catehinf: i 



m that I knew- a l,i 

 a,fter the usual eoi 

 iine salmon trout 

 nt^th. l.ookiii- n, 

 ivhere the w ater wa 



eh suck- 

 ,;.-si 1 had the 

 S.,hi,o riark't). 

 X to tlie oppo^ 

 shallow. I saw 

 of six or ei,slit 

 ihem, after a 

 id 



tinned until I liad taken a dozen, when finding tli.. 

 method too slow, 1 allowed the hook to sink amouK them, 

 when, by giving a sharp twitch, I would generally suc- 

 ceed in hooking one in the body. In this -way T got some 

 forty or fifty, as many as I thought would bo wanted for 

 specimens. 



1 now started up stream, intending to spend tlie rest of 

 the day in trout fishins;, but, found I was not so near done 

 with the suckers a* I had thou.ght. They had preempted 

 the stream for a qufuter of a mile. In one place, where 

 the water spreads out forming a large shallow fiasin with 

 aravelly sides and bottom, they had collected on one 

 side in a mass ten yards by one or two broad, piled ii|jon 

 each other so that at least one-fourth were out of the 

 water — entirely out — a solid, squirming, quivering mass 

 of fishes. Stepping down beside them, I bcKaa with both 

 hands to throw them upon the bank, and had I wished I 

 could have thrown out bushels. In the quarter of a mile 

 that they had possession of the stream I saw several such 

 masses, and supposed that they were crowding above the 

 water to receive better the heat of the sun, which now 

 shone bright, but found on my return at 4 o'clock, when 

 the sun was below the tree tops and the air quite cold, 

 that even more of them were in this position. 



1 found one place where the presence of several partly 

 eaten lishes showed that even an otter had failed to drive 

 them away. I am informed that large numbers of these 

 fishes— less than half of the season's run, bat a gi-eat 

 many — crowd themselves ashore after spawning and die 

 there, -and I have no doubt these were performing the 

 last act of their tragedy; the only instance, so far as I 

 know, of suicide among fishes. 



It must not be supposed that -these fishes were sick or 

 weak, or in any way incapable of continuing the struggle 

 for existence. On the contraiy, they were plump and 

 strong, and apparently as capable of supporting the ills 

 of their existence as any of their relatives in the deeper 

 waters. 



It is a singular fact that so many of the fishes of Ibis 

 coast should die immediately after spawning. The smelt 

 (Osmerus 2}acificii'<) and the quinnat salmon are cases in 

 point. The fact in the ease of the salmon can beaccounted 

 for by natural causes. The immense distance he has to 

 go to reach the headwaters of the Snake and Columbia, 

 the hardships of many kinds he must undergo, and all 

 without food, for the oncovhynchi do not feed in fresh 

 water, must tell fearfully upon his vitality. But the 

 smelt goes scarcely a hundred miles inland, and the 

 sucker dies not half a mile from tidewater and twenty 

 from the ocean. C. J. Smith. 



^ THE GAME FISH OF TEXAS. 



Editor Forest and Stream .■— 



In your issue of July 19th I notice a communication 

 from "Be.xar," of Corpus Christi, on the game fish of 



Texas. "Bexar" is correct as to the black bass, croppie 

 and wide-mouthed perch, all of which are very abundant 

 in Texas waters, but whetlier the rock bass is an inhabi- 

 tant of that State I cannot say. It has been taken in Louis- 

 iana, but 1 know of no instance of its heino found so l;u- 

 SouMiwest as Texas. There are two spi-eiesof Poriio.vy.s 

 both called ■'croppie" or " crappie" m certain sections' 

 buti thmk but one species (P. a /(inttam) exists in Texas! 

 I will sive brief descriptions of the.se several species for 

 the information of any who may be in doubt as to the 

 identity of any or all of them. 



Large-mouthed Black Bass.—M. paUldus (Raf,). 

 GUI & Jordan. This is, as all know, the so-called "trout" 

 of Southern waters. It is the game fish par excellence of 

 the Southwest, and a further description at this time is 

 unnecessary. 



War-mouth Peeoh.— CTceno^/rj/i'frf,'! guloms (C & V ) 

 Gill. This is the fish alluded to by "Bexar" as the 

 " wide-mouth perch," and which is a very «ood name for 

 it, the etymology of its generic name being e/iaiao to 

 yawn or gape; briUtos, suntish. and its specific name 

 gulosm, hi^-mLiuthtid ; literaliy, "wide-mouthed Kaping 

 sunhsh," It has a moutii very similar to the black bass 

 and also closely resembles that lish in the radial formula 

 of its fins. It has a robust body, depth aiiotit half of 

 length; broad forward, compressed behind: nape ronnded- 

 a depression over the eye ; the snout projectiiiK, forming 

 an angle ; fins rather low, with stout spines ; teeth on 

 jawB. tongue and palate ; scales large. The opercular 

 spot on flap at the end of gill cover is as large as the eve. 

 black, bordered with copper color. There is another spe- 

 cies oi fhaninhji/ftn:-! in the South Atlantic States (C. 

 inrulis), somew hat sm-aLler and slenderer, and is likewise 

 called " war mouth,'' also " bream." 



^i^""'^*? .B-ASs.— PoTOO,^•^/.s niyromaeulatu.i (L. S.), Gi- 

 rard. This fish is also known in various sections as 

 ••grass Ixass,- " silver bass," " strawberry perch." "'-'01;- 

 ple-eyed perch,' '-razordjack," '.'croppie,'' " ehinkSpin 

 perch," etc., all of which are more or loss exiiressive 

 though I think the latter the most distmotive and ex- 



marke.l with dusky blotches, as if made -with the ends' 

 of one's fingers. 



CiiM'viE.—Pninnfcys nnntilnris (Rat.). Also kno-wn as 

 "bachelor perch," " new light." "Caiupbellite," "tin- 

 mouth," "silver perch," "speckled perch," etc. It; is 

 lar to the last-named species, though is scaToely 



so robust. 1 

 quite thin 



d 



-hit.- 11 

 th ;" it is niM 

 tbedarkspi-ilsoii 

 are not so varietral 

 This, I think, is 

 species are handso 

 Rocic BapS.-.-I 

 well-known specie 

 tlir- Alloj^d-ianies, andalsr 

 It is a Kood pn 



: has :i hjrtrer mouth, M-hich fa 



' the name " tin- 



:' :ip!iearance. nnd 



lader, and the fins 



1 as i„ til,, oil,,-,- species, 



le sp.-cies so abnndantin Texas. Both 



e fishes, though not, very "garny."' 



UopUt,'^: i;,pvMfris (Kiif.), Gill. A 



aenerally distrifmte,! west of 



nown as " reil-eye •' anrl " cro;;- 



fi.sh and quite ■■ gamy." Body 



thicker, or more robust than the " ci-opiiies," thoiirrh not 

 •io much so as the •' war-mouth." Depth about half of 

 leniirh ; liead and mouth large ; eve verv lan^e. iris red ; 

 front. or face. convex; color.brassy-olive. wicli golden green 

 and dusky markin;,rs ; a dark spot at base of each scale, 

 giving a somewhat faintly striped appearance, which is 

 more conspicuous alter death. Dorsal fin larger than 

 anal. 



'I'he above-named species all belong to the family Cen- 

 trai-i-Mdie. which is composed of percoid fishes with a 

 siuKle dorsal (In, either continuous or deeply divided, 

 to thn-ieeii siiiues, or thorny rays : .«inal 

 from thi-ee to nine spines ; ventral (ins 

 )ne spine ; body oblon,.;, more or less ele- 

 lometimes much compressed ; some with a 

 prolonfred fi:,p at the end of sill cover (oper- 

 rly ail svith a blaok s|jot, lartcer or smaller, 

 : mouth nl-,li,p,e: villiform, or velvet-like 

 IS, vomer and palate : teeth on tongue, pre,s- 

 -.r, but absen t in ot her genera, 

 ■ar-mouth" is especially distinsnished bv its 



with fron 

 (in lai'se, witli 

 thoracic, with i 

 vated, and soir 



cle), ai 

 at this 

 teetli ( 

 ent in 

 The 



1 J a 



id thr 



large mouth and robust apjiear 



by the very large anal fins, hein;; larger tlian th^ dorsal. 



As the species above described are readily distinguished 

 by the number of spines and rays in the dorsal and anal 

 fins. I submit the f.jllowing formuku. with the remark 

 Chat all of the .spines must be cotmled, no matter how 

 short or rudimentary the first ones niav be, aiei that 

 where the last soft ray is branched or forkf d it is to be, 

 counted only as one. The number of spines and rays 

 may vary one or two in different localities ; thus, in the 

 extreme South or Southwest the number of spine-S in the 

 dorsal fin of Ihe black bass may be often found to be 



"ethe 



nine, or even eight, instead of ten. In the tab 

 are indicated by Roman inimerals and the s 

 Arabic numerals ; thus, X, 13, means ten 

 twelve soft rays. 



Species. Dorsal. 



Black bass (il/. paWf*w), X, 12, 



Rock bass (A. rupeRtris), XI, 11, 



War-mouth (C gvlosus), . X, X(), 



Calico bass (P. nigromacidatus), 'VII, l.'i, 

 Crappie (P. annularis), VH, 15, 



" Bexar " seems to be in doubt .as to the use of the 

 name "goggle-eye." It is a poor name at best, and is 

 applied to several different species. He states that •' Hal- 

 lock's Gazet(:eer" sives'rock bass, croppie ami poi^gle eye 

 to the same fisli. which is unfortimatt^ly the case on pa'ife 

 333 ; but this is an error. It is almost impossihle to com- 

 pile a w-ork of the character and extent of this without 

 some errors creeping in. 



In the instance referred to it was no doubt the inten- 

 tion of the compiler to include both Ihe rock bass and the 

 crappie among the " Fishes of the West," l,nt somehow 

 ,d]l 



nes 

 .ft -ays by 

 spines and 



Anal. 

 HI, 10. 

 VL 10. 

 II r. 9. 

 Vr. IS. 

 VI. 17. 



got them mixed, if •' Bex 

 paragraph referrerl to, and -wril 

 bass, page 373 : crappie. pa-e 37 

 former page and add to 1 lie rock 

 cal name Avihloiilitea rupe.stris 



to page 378, and add the name P 



(L. S.) Girard (its present name) to the des 

 croppie at the top of the page, ho will lia-- 

 thouKh this " croppie" is the calico bass, 

 of the page (378) the other croppie is descr 

 l.iercli " and "tin mouth." On this same 

 lilso find his " wide-mouth perch " referre<. 

 name of " maw-mouth," or "goggle-eye.'' 



While "Bexai'" is about it, let him erase Roccus cliry- 

 sops (on page 379), for it has nothing to do with "sun- 

 fish ; " but, turning to page 373, add it to the " white lake 

 bass," for it is the present name of that fish. 



„ „ . _ J. A. Hessuall. 



Cynthiana, Ky., Aug. 21th. 



the 

 ^ m the margin, "rock 

 ^ : " and then refer to the 

 jiass its present techni- 

 iiai.^ (iill, and then turn 

 kp'innanilnlns 

 ci-iption of the 

 'e it correct— 

 .At the b.iltom 

 ibed as "sand 

 page be will 

 1 to under the 



The Basses oi^ TEWfESSEE.— Savannah, Tenn., Aug., 

 I//!.— I have j'Lst returned from a short fishing excur- 



mth 



toast _ _ _ ___ 



(be low water and hot weathe 

 some game bass and perch, ll 

 three pounds. The mode of a 

 present state of the \(-a(er and 

 bottom with live minnows, tr 

 and late, and resorting; 

 lours of the day. One 

 ly casting, either with 1 

 arieties ot bass, jli. ."(// 

 bass, yet our local angl, 



thing 

 away. Notwithstanding 

 , we had fair sport, taking 



i largest, a tiass. weiuhirig 

 oranf-lin-, most killil.^' in tlio 

 and w-eatiier. is to hsh on the 

 s. trying the swift water early 

 tie- lilue holes during the hofc 

 n do no good in these streams 

 mow or fiy. We have here tJiree 

 'c/.i.s-. M. pallidiis, and aslriped 

 listinguish fish by their 



coloralone, makemaiiy moi-e kinds. The two 

 M. salmoides, and M. pi ululn.s are known a3"black trout," 

 or '-green trout," "pond trout," "wldle trout," or "cJui'b 

 traut." The "bl,ack or green trout' outnundx'r thootiier 

 vnrieties, and is more highly esteemed. In addition to 

 the other ashes named, we have here the rock b-as.s, known 

 these waters as b;;! cc perch. Both they and JW. .«itoic- 

 ide.s, show great iliveisity of color, some being very pale, 

 hilo in the same "hole" you may take others of almost 

 inky blackness. The pike-perch, in local parlance "sal- 

 mon," were formerly abundant, but have recently becomo 

 scarce, not a dozen having been taken this season. In 



