OOTOBBB 23, 1880.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



247 



of lobsters and oysters in Norway, and those regarding the 

 researches of Dr. Heury Le Roux ou the hybridization of the 

 oyBtei'. 



ged and ffiver fishing, 



THAT SIX AND A QUARTER POUND BASS. 



I "V^^ recently referred to a photograph of a BtnaU-mouth 

 ' ' ' l)lack bass, Miernplerui mlmoidea, sent us by Dr. 

 Sterling, which had the effect of removing our doubts about 

 their reaching this weight, or rather a pound and a quarler 

 below the avoiidupois named was the limit at wliich we stuck. 

 The letter which accompanied I iic picture was mislaid, but 

 recognizing the upccssity of placing I his upon record in order 

 to remove the slceplicisui of others as to the size attained by 

 this tish iu Lake Erie, we now publish it : 



CtBVSLAND, O.. Sept. 14. 



EDlT(,r: Tonr.s-, ax,. [Stkea.m : 



lenclosf M. yi.u tin/ |.iiniugraph of a small-mouth black 

 T)a88 whicli ivi.iiii.iil 1 vucily six and a quarter pounds, with- 

 out the !iU(Jitii »\ ol ;i lead fi'ukcr iu its stomach either. I made 

 a cast of the fish at the time it wjis taken, but being hii.stily 

 done the slitijc wns ndt perfectly removed, consequently the 

 scales are not well detiiied, though the proportions and parts 

 oftheflshiue correct. I have caught this fish in the St. 

 Lawrence, Niagara River, and Saiilt Bte Maria as well as 

 throughout Lake Erie, and at several places in lakes Huron 

 and Superior, but onlj' in one locality have 1 found them to 

 CNcceil four ijnunds, and that is among the islands at the 

 Ju'ad of Lake Erie. 



The large moutli liass is never taken in Lake Erie. This 

 fish frcqueiilK the marshy, nrnss ijnnvn rivers and estuaries: 

 he is green, lom^v and slimv, .snirlls of liis .surroundinirs. and 

 when cookeil lias about the same taste: is soft in flesh j' while 

 on the contrary the snnill mouth is theniosi active Jish on the 

 hook of his siae. He frequents clear, cool water, and, if in a 

 stream that is rapid and aerated, his llesli is particularly 

 hard, and I have a positive belief that, like the turbot. he 

 improves by two or three days' keeping, whieh wo. tan say of 

 no other fish. E. Steiu.ino, M. D. 



DO PISH HAVE FITS? 



IK 



WHILE walking l>v the Hudson at Inwood the otlier 

 day I saw a succession of bright (lashes ou the sur- 

 face of tlie water coming from .wme object advancing down 

 the river. It proved to be a hlackflsh, and it was goinii 

 through the most singular gyrations, milikc' any that T liave 

 ever seen in sick, injured or dying fish. It lay flat upon its 

 side: its fins were without motion" its eyes were liriyht, not 

 clouded; its nioiiihw.as rigidly open and partlv out ' of the 

 uaKT. and its tail struck downward and a littk- inward, so 

 till tliif fish perforuied a complete revohition in the course of 

 r live tiaps of its tail. The flap of the tail was not in- 

 ■tnt or in-egular, but was a st.rong, liealthv beat, and 

 - , rating motion of the fish was suggestive of waltzing. 

 TLiuking that it had escaped from the hook, or had been 

 thrown back after be ing taken out of the water, I e.xamined 

 it closely when it came within a few feet of the bank, and 

 saw that it w.as a sound, well-fed fish, without mark of hook 

 or injury of any kiiul. ft did not struggle like a dying (isli, 

 nor Hoat for momeiu.s without motion, nor endeavor to 

 swim to the hottom, and in the five minutes or more that 

 I kept it in sight it did not intermit in the strength or regu- 

 larity of the lieat of its tail. I threw some pebbles into the 

 water near it, liut not until I had thrown several handfnls did 

 it exhiljit signs of returning ciaiscioasness. ATlii'n I used 

 large stones to create a greater sliock in the watci- the fish 

 . made efforts to right itself, aud, after miieh visonius flound- 

 ering, succeeded. At last 1 tossed a lieaw rock within a 

 coujtie of feet of it, and with a frightened rusli it dived toward 

 tJie bottom and did not appear "again, I never knew tliat 

 ■fish harl a nervous organization of "sufficiently high order to 

 entitle them to have fits, but this particular fisli' acted like 

 the victim of a nervous disorder. Can anybody give an ex- 

 planation of its conduct ? C. M. S. 



The symptoms are those of a fi.sh which has been poisoned 

 by persons who use forbidden articles for procuring minnows 

 lor bait, but it is, of course, impossible to say. 



currents— tens of thousands of them, side by side, with their 

 backs out of water in shallow places— nothing that I coidd 

 write may possibly give anything like a fair conception of the 

 extravagance of their numbers. There is more salmon appa- 

 rently, bulk for bulk, than water. In fordina: ilie stream the 

 writhing multitudes, crowding against one aiiotlier, could not 

 get out of one's ways. One of om- men waded out in the 

 midst of them and amused himself by seizing them above the 

 tail and swinging them over his hetid. Thousands of Ihem 

 could thus be taken by hand while the^- arc nuiking their wav 

 over the shallows among the stones, "Whatever may Ije said 

 of other resources of the territory, it i.s hardly ])ossil)le to cv- 

 aggcrate the importance of lier fisheries. Notto ineniion ceid, 

 herring, halibut, etc.. there are prolialily not less than a thou- 

 sand salmon streams in Southeastern Alaska a.s lartre or larger 

 than this one (about forty feet wide) crowded v.iib'fiTH:' salnTon 

 every year. The run commenced this year more tlian a month 

 ago, and the King Salmon, one of the five species recognized 

 by the Indians, was running in the Chilcat River about the 

 middle of last November." 



^ 



^Silver Bass.— IlUnou State LaMnvtor^y of JVfUural His- 

 tory. — JVormal, HI., Oct. 18. — In response to your request for 

 information about the use of the name " Silver Bass," I re- 

 spectfully report that the name is applied iu Northern Illinois 

 very generally to Powy-i nigr-imiaculrtu^, Z. S., known in the 

 Illinois and Mississippi regions as the black croiipie. I don't 

 know about the change of color, but the purple spijt on the 

 operculum and the long lower jaw arc right, while the liody 

 is short and deep. If tliis should prove to lie >-our corres- 

 pondent's species, and if a Imowledge of thcii- natural food is 

 of any importance to him, it may be worth while to note that 

 I have found the young dependent upon EnUinvMi-(i'-a imich 

 longer than most other fishes, feeding upon little else until 

 three or four inches long. The food of the adidt varies in the 

 Illinois River with the time of the year. In early spring 

 they take entomostraca in immense" numbers ,- in" summer 

 they dci.icnd chiefly on the aqual ic larva- of iMay-flics, dragon- 

 flies and the like, and in autumn, as the w eatli'er turns cold, 

 about a third of their food, on an average, consists of smaU 

 fishes. Thelarvw of May-flies and dragon-flies are, on the 

 whole, much the most important of their food resources. For 

 usefufness the species ranks here about with the white bass 

 {Roccwi ehrywps). S. A. Fokbes. 



" Montreal, Canada..— In your issue of the 14tb inst. a ptwa- 

 graph occursheaded " Silver I3ass." There is a fish taken in 

 Lake Ontario locally known by the latter name. It belontrs 

 to the genua Labrai, but I caimot determine the species, Tlie 

 small-mouthed fishes which Mr. Begg .trave the Socic'ty in 

 France, and which came from Lake "(intario. eviilentlv do 

 not belong to the bass fanii!\-. The mouth is large in Lahmx. 

 I am anxious to see a published list of this gen\is, as species 

 occurring in northern waters are not identified. 



WJI. OotTPKI!. 



* GEtnjs ra 'Bf^m.—TMndon, Can., Oct. 19.— AA'hile reading a 

 letter in yom- paper, from some gentlemen fishiuir in Michi- 

 gan, I noticed they had caught some bass, similarly idfecicd 

 to many I have caught, namely, willi grubs in the flesh. The 

 gi'ubs seem to be firnily imbedded in the flesh, but do not ap- 

 pear to injure the fl.sh 'in the least. 1 have caught man^ liki 

 this in the Lakes of jMuskoka and also in some of oui rn i is 

 Though not very nice-looking before being coolted, ift i ih it 

 I never could distinguish anything wronsr with thfm T 

 would like to hear very much what Is the cause of it md if 

 they affect the fish. A ti ("' 



•^ Grubs is Fish. — CindimMi, 0.,' Oct. 20.— In regard to the 

 communication of "W. D. T.," in Forest and Stpeam of 

 Oct. 14, relating to the presence of grubs in black bass I 

 would say that nearly, if not all species of fish are subject to 

 parasitic "worms or" epxhs during warm weather, and some 

 limes at other sea.sons of the year. These parasites are dc 

 stroyed in the cooking of the fish, aud are not at allmpirious 

 to the hunum economy. There is no doubt but we take into 

 our stomachs, with food of various kinds, thoirsands of pira 

 sitic creatures, some living, others destroyed in the procris- 

 of cooking. If we should submit our alim'ent to microscopic 

 examination, and refuse all that contained li\iug organisms 

 we should all bccomn "Tanners," for, as Swift says 



' ' So, natm-alists observe, a ilea 

 Has smaller fleas that on him prey ; 

 And these have smaller still to bite 'em ; 

 And BO proceed ad infimlxtm" 

 ,\i J. A. Hensham,. 



Bta Striped Bass— -yew Tm-k. Oct. SI.— Having seen an 

 'mqnii'y in your issue of last week, asking if there was any 

 record of the Iflrgest striped bass ever taken with rod and 

 reel, I would say that there is on record at Pasque Island 

 Ohib one taken some ten years ago liy A. B. Dunlap 

 weighing 02 llis. Tin? writer took one two 3ears ago of fiO.^ 

 lbs. weight, also on niMrd at .above club. I saw one in New 

 Bedl'ord, taken ai Nmn.an's Land, weighing 64 lbs,, and have 

 heard of one of 07 lbs., aiuf from r<;liaTile information. 

 There is recorded at Pasque Island many between 50 and 60 

 lbs., aud between 40 and 50 lbs. is no raril y with us at Pasque. 

 All of above were taken with rod aud ree'l. Yours truly, 



FkaXK O. IlEI!Rr.NG. 



We are glad t(i reeeivfi BiidiDjates as the above, and place 

 ibese things permanently upon record. When future histo- 

 rians of angling -wish to write up any fish, they will naturally 

 tnrn to the flies of Forest and Stream for such informa- 

 tion and will miss all iiems in local papers and occasional 

 magazine articles. Ji.isi sjionsnieu recognize the fact that 

 FoKEbT AND Sij:eam is the record for all connected with the 

 Rod and Gun, and tliat no matter where a thing may be 

 •printed it is not '>«. record uuti^ embalmed in the pages of 

 Forest asi> Stream, no more than the pedigree of a Jersey 

 bull is on record if published in a villiige newspaper and 

 omitted from the Herd Book. 



\Ve Liierefore desii-e to impress upou our readers that for 

 all pn:;:ise^, nt i'ei:oidof sJACH of game auiuials and feats 

 with I'.'d and gun, I'^oitEsr a,vu Stueam is not only the record 

 but the oulj' one. 



Alaska Saxmok,— A correspondent of the San Francisco 



.'7(74, writing from Alaska, says: "As for the salmon, as 



this uioi-ning urging thoir way up the swift, brawling 



your correspondent " B.." who lioldly answered my prior 

 statement, to elucidate this matter. I am anxious l"o know 

 more about this fish aud its habits, especially as there is a 

 statement made that being confined to Lake Ontario it visits 

 salt .springs wiihin ihe lake. I camiot find a person to cor- 

 roborate this assertion, aud I look on it as absurd. 



Forty-five siiccimens of twenty-six species of stuffed fishes 

 were hung up by me at om- late exhibition. My fishes arc 

 placed on boards t"o hang from the i\-all like pictiu'es. In this 

 way they are preferable for uuiseuni purijoscs. The collec- 

 tion of fishes exhibited by me last year at Ottawa, Out., were 

 pnrcliased liy Dr. Slerry Hunt, the celebrated chemist, for 

 jMcGill University ,AIusenm. Canadians give but little en- 

 couragement to natui"al science, hence this branch of the art 

 suffers. 



Wm. COII'^EB. 



Illegal Fi8HBRir.AN Stopped.— It is a pleasure to record 

 that one of the newly appointed Game Protectors of New 

 York hfis entered upon his duties in a fearless manner, aud in 

 a recent raid on the gUI nets in ('ayuga f^^ake destroyed forty 

 of them. The Rochester Expn.m. from which wo got the 

 news, says : — " State game coustafilc, George M. Schwartz, re- 

 turned to-daj- from a successful expedition" on Cayuga Lake, 

 for which place he left here on Wednesday. It had been sur- 

 mised that a good deal of illegal lishing was being done in 

 Cayuga Lake. "' The constable cbartered~a steamer at Peun 

 Yan last evening and made a tour up the lake to llammauds- 

 port with grappling irons dragging iu Ihe water. Tbe residt 

 was that over forty gill nets were di-awn to the surface. 

 These were destroyed. A good iiaifl." 



" Size of Black Bass. — St. Junfph, Mich.. Oct. 17. — I see in 

 number Oct. 14 you express doubts of black bass exceeding 

 four pounds' weight. It you will come here we will take 

 you out where you can take and see taken several in a day, 

 genuine Micropt^rm mlmordts (MicroiP'ihi:/) that will weigh 

 from four and a half to five pounds. There has been near a 

 dozen taken here the past week that went four to five and a 

 halt pounds. Vie never Qntch nny Mff/rikuma that go over 

 four pounds probably. I frequently hear of the MityiMtdm'T 

 being caught weighiing seven and eight pounds. I never saw 

 one over six to seven pounds. Lutbon. 



The Largest Halibut. — The Cape Ami Adveriijfer, in giv- 

 ing the record of the largest halibut, says : 



Last week we published a statement that a ^halibut weigh- 

 ing 377 pounds, landed b}' sch, AYachusett, was the largest 

 ever landed. This is truesofarasBankhalibut are concerned, 

 but Capt. William H. Oakes comes to the front and states 

 that iu 1873 he purchased a halilmt brought in from Georges, 

 which weighed 447 pounds. He telegraphed to Bo.stim and 

 sold him, and the monster attracted much attention in the 

 market. A halibut was landed at the New En.gland Fish 

 Company's whai-f a few years since which weighed 368 

 pounds. 



. How TO Dress Black Bass and Pickerel.— St Joneph, 

 Mich., Oct. 17.— Aliout everything has been written on black 

 bass but how to dress them. I will tell you how I do it. 

 Take a thin, old case-knife njade sharp (a file is the Iiest to 

 sharpen anything but a razor ,i; liegiii at the tail and run to 

 and from you a quick, .siiarp stroke jusi under the scales aud 

 not too near to the meat. That leaves a thin while membrane 

 or skin on the meat and takes off all s<.'alcs and black skin. 

 The skill will soon be acquired. It takes off all the black, 

 and when cooked takes away all marshy taste. I dress pick- 

 erel the same way. Now let our piscatorial brethrentry it, 

 and I pledge my word they wiU not scrape scales any more if 

 they have been in the habit of douig it. Brethren, try it. 



LlTTRON. 



v\ 



An Elbven-pocnd TRovT—Bet/iel, Mmu, Oct. 1.— The 

 close season for trout is now upon us. and himdreds of sports- 

 men are now returning to their homes from the Oxford Count v- 

 lakes. The catch of large brook trout has been very fair, and 

 in most cases satisfactory ; although some parties "have tieen 

 disappointed, yet othere have carried home many beautiful 

 specimens of the largest Snlm-o fontinah's in tbe world. The 

 largest specimen loiown lobe caught and weighed was carried 

 home by a Mr. Marble, of Boston ; weight, eleven pounds. 

 Many m'ore of the weight of ten, nine, eight and less pounds 

 were taken at upper dam, foot of Mooslamaguntic. Trout 

 of the largest size could, and can now, he seen reatfily by any 

 one on and near their spaT^ming grounds, hut tlu-v eliarily rise 

 to a fly. The most of those taken are baited wiih spaw'n, al- 

 though many parlies will nor deviate from tlie more sports- 

 man-like Way of fly, hook and delicate rigging. Game of 

 larger and smaller kinds aliouud iu these regions, and the 

 moimlaius are gorgeous in fall foliage, forming a fitting tab- 

 leau to the closing up of the enjoyments of a successful sea- 

 son. " .J. G. BiuH. 



Salmo WiLMOu.— jl/«/ii»'«tf, Canaila. Oct.— What about 

 tJie same of tlie author of Saitno wtl'/noti f It is the duty of 



^dq snd 0nn, 



—Addrtm all OommunioaMrtm to 

 I'liUishiny Company, New York." 



"Forest and Stream 



CAME IIS !!iLAS>01> I"V OCTOBER. 



I M nortooi k, PInljilitIa r 



1 I Hi K lielll il pln\ei 



"MOO^P A ice 



Cailhoo, l\an<t u I ' 



Flk or w I pit I 



Itedoi viisli I 



Squirrels— le I I 



Uaie^— browu m i „i i\ 



KPf fl 01 nee Will, lijii I i /x r i/ 



WM Iiuke^, V.lmiiM Ktllaiuu 

 Plnmtpft grouse oi pnlile elite 



IvPD, Cvpia )nia ciiptdj 

 ituHed gi oiise oi plie is uit Bo- 



Quall Ol paitilrtgp, Orlyx iirqm- 



\\i cl bi e i^ted snlpp (lowltcUei , 



Ma I iham} hut gii tut 

 liul b a 1^1(1 ^ iiKtplpi'i or o\ tilid. 



WlllPt 1 '( 

 I IttU I J It 

 i eUu« -all.uxKs, J II 



^ 1 I rill J r ana arotiua 



T his eaiuui 1 iilon l-> general, and Is In conflict wltli many of the 



St UP livs 



'BrfjUUds „'eiiPiall'\ liirlnrtfng virlnus spetlPsof plo\er, sand 

 piper, Hiilpr (Uiloi fi'-lir lUli i, snrt bird, ptialjiopis uoeeti 

 ett , coming uniln 111 ki up y ( V li ahon birds JM uij Males 

 permit iH-tlitP fowl plni, ite 1 ,i ui^e li lotlng ,iltei Au^' 15 



THE YELOCITY OF SHOT. 



Experiments Givixo Direct Measures of tue Tijie of 

 Flight of FowLrNo-PiECE Shot of Yahiocs Sizes 

 Over Various Distances, Witu Remarks on the Ar- 



1'I.IOATIOM OF TuESE MeaSI-RES TO THE AkT OF SHOOT- 

 ING OS TUB Wrsft. 



B.v Ai.KHEi) M. Mavbr, Professor of Phj-slcs \a ttie Srevens IriBrltute or 

 Technology, Hoholcen, New Jereey. 



■Read Before the Anierteo 

 Selei). 



I tor Tlie A'lYi 



eemeat ol 



Best 



ABOUT a year ago 1 determined to make a series of ex- 

 pei-iments wifh an umJeniably aeeuraie chrono.scope, 

 which would give direct measures of the velocity of fowling- 

 piece shot of various sizes. At that time I was not aware that 



any determinations 

 ' ilaroiiesontlie ^ 



if '!■■ 



■alls 



iid 



- been made, though 

 ■f eirdiiauce and rijles 

 irk entirely free from 

 inu-nts would reveal. 

 k, when on a visit to 

 Laited States Naval Acad- 

 tlial he had made a short 





preconceived ideas 



It was only toward 



my friendProlesS'jr Lice, of liie 



emy, that the Professor told 



series of similar ex-periments with a Le Bouhmge chronoscope, 



and had published them in the Rod and Gun in Jul.v, 1875. 



This ptiper I then read, and I here reprint it ,a« an appendix 



to my paper. My attention has subsequently been called to 



the works of other experimenters in the same direction : of 



them I have taken references, but have purposely avoided 



reading them. 



I have made this pieain' i ; iier to .show that my 



experinicuts are to be lak. -. leiident of other 



similur work, for 1 u.isi].; _ : i a nei;d during my 



experimenting by a knowledi;. ,.u,>u leiijiit cause me to re- 

 ject certain expcj'iinents as erroneous lieeause they did not 

 give results which I had ihou'^'hi t/ic>/ ■'fniuld hciiv ginen ; for 

 no matter how couucientious au exjjerimenter may be, he is 

 sometimes influenced by preconceived notions, and unwit- 

 tingly desires his experiments to bring out certain results. I 



