FOREST AND STREAM 
805 
little city west of St, Paul. Yankton has over five thou¬ 
sand inhabitants, first-class hotels, churches, schools and 
—saloons. 
The sportsman can purchase everything he needs of the 
public-spirited dealers in Buch goods right on the 
gTound here, and, gentlemen of the rod and gun, citizens 
of Yankton will give a sportsman's welcome to all gentle¬ 
men coming for Bpovt; and among others who will do all 
in their power to make their stay a pleasant one is the 
subscriber, ' J. E. “Wert. 
YanJeton, Dakota t 
A Successful Fish Cultcrist. —Mr. Seth Perkins, of 
Cairo. Illinois, has the best set of hatcheries in the State. 
Like Seth Green, the New York Statefisli culture pioneer, 
Mr. Perkins took his cue from nature. It was away back 
in 1838, as he was one day fishing for salmon trout in a 
Canadian stream, that his attention was attraoted to the 
movements of a female fish. Carefully watching her 
movements in the sand, the fisherman learned something 
which he then and there resolved should some day be 
utilized. His first successful venture in fish culture was 
in 1864 when he placed some trout spawn into a jar, then 
stripped in the milt and stirredit up with the fish’s tail. 
Mr. Perkins ascribes his success in tinsjwork to the care¬ 
ful adaptation of water and fish. He is always sure to 
have the proper degree of jpurity and temperature for a 
particular kind of fish ; giving as much attention to this 
as a farmer does to the ground for his seed. 
Chemicals in the Connecticut River.— Dr. Wm. 
Wood, of East Windsor Hill, Conn., writes to Professor 
Spencer F. Baird, under date of October 13th: 
11 may be of interest to you to know that your salmon are 
not all lost. Last Friday, 10th, I was with a party of three, 
fishing in Snipsic Lake, and one of our party caught a sal¬ 
mon that weighed 1* pounds. This is the second one taken 
since the pond was stocked, as 1 was told. The other was 
caught this summer and weighed twelve ounces. 
Cannot something be done to save our fish in Connecti¬ 
cut River ? There m au establishment at Holyoke. Mass.. 
and another at Windsor Locks, Conn., that are manufac¬ 
turing log's into paper, and I am told that the chemicals 
used for that purpose are let into the river twice a day, 
and that the flslr for half a mile come up as though they 
had been cockled. Both of these factories are at the foot 
of falls where the fish collect and stop in great numbers 
and are all killed. Our shores and sand bars are literally 
lined with dead fish. Three salmon have been found 
among them within two miles of my office. They were 
judged to weigh ten, twenty, aud twenty-five pounds. 
The dead fish are so numerous that eagles are here after 
them. 1 have received nine that have been shot here in 
the past two seasons. 
The section of the law touching this, reads as follows, 
and we see no reason why this is not a clear case for‘the 
commissioners :— 
§ 3. Every person who shall knowingly permit any 
substance deleterious to fish, to flow or drain into, or 
he placed in any waters having fish therein, shall for each 
day during which he shall permit the same, forfeit not 
exceeding $100 to any informer. 
LIVINGSTON STONE TO E. A. BRACKETT. 
Charlestown, N. H., oof. 3181. 
Mr. Editor:— 
I think no one can Maine me for being almost out of patience 
because I cannot get a square answer from Mr. Brackett as to 
whether T ever said, what the Massachusetts Fish Commissioners 
report represents me as saying, viz.: " That all the California sal¬ 
mon die after spawning." 
I deny explicitly that I ever said it, and I want the writer of the 
report to either retract his statement or prove it.. I paid no at¬ 
tention to the letter of Mr. Brackett In Forest and Stream of 
May 29th, about what I had written concerning the salmon of the 
McCloud River, because it did not take up the question under dis¬ 
cussion, which concerns not the dying of the salmon in the Me- 
Cloud Biver, but the dying of “ all the California sat,non," as the 
Massachusetts report puts it. I not only admit, but I reaffirm 
wi th more emphasis than ever, what I said in my report of 1872 to 
Prof. Baird, that “ All the salmon that go up the McCloud Hiver, 
die after spawning," but I never said that “ All the California sal¬ 
mon die after spawning,” and to illustrate the difference between 
the two statements, let me say that the McCloud Biver is a small 
mountain stream of less size than the Charles Biver of Mr. 
Brackett's own Slate of Massachusetts, while the area of Califor¬ 
nia, to quote the school geographies, "is larger than that or all 
the Atlantic States north of the Potomac.” 
Now, if Mr. Brackett should make a statement about the fish in 
CUarles Biver, and I should write in my report that he had made 
this statement about the fish in all the fivers of Maine, New Hamp¬ 
shire, Massachusetts, Khode Island, Connecticut, New York, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, would not Mr. 
Brackett and everyone else think I was in the last stages of 
lunacy ? Yet such extravagance on my part would ho no more 
preposterous than what Mr. Brackett has done in applying u 
statement of mine about the sulmou that ascend the McCloud 
Biver, to all California salmon. He has stretched and expanded 
this little snow fed stream of the Sierra Nevada till it is made to 
cover an area larger than all the Atlantic States from Canada to the 
Potomac. I will charitably infer that Mr. Brackett’s geography 
is responsible for his wild conclusions, and not any conscious in¬ 
tention On his part to misrepresent facts. I know perfectly well 
that ail the California salmon do not die when they spawn, and I 
have always known it si nee my first experience with them, and the 
Massachusetts Commission would as soon think of saying that all 
1 tie codfish in the ocean die after spawning, as I should of 
making that statement about ail the California salmon; but the 
dying of the salmon that go up the McCloud is altogether another 
thing, and if Mr. Brackett wants to take up the question of the 
fate of salmon of the McCloud Biver, I will agree to furnish 
him with such overwhelming evidence- of the truth of what I 
have re ported allot) t their dying, that lie will never want to hear 
the subject mentioned, again. Livingston Stone, 
M Salmon in Green Bay.— Prol'. Spencer F. Baird sends 
us the following letter, with the indentifieation of the 
.specimen referred to as a Californian salmon, about ten 
inches in length: — 
Mehominee, Mich.. Oct. 29th. 
Prof. Spencer F. Baird, U. S. Commissioner, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. 
Dear Sir : I send yon herewith a fish, which I take to be 
a salmon. It was caught in a net, about ten miles down 
shore from here, and salted before found by Capt. Sand¬ 
ers, who, in looking the lot over, found this one and 
brought it in. I think it is the first of the kind ever 
caught in the waters of Green Bay. Will you please in¬ 
form me, either by mail or through columns of Forest 
and Stream what kind this is; also its probable age? 
Have you any record of others being caught around here 
or in Lake Michigan? I think I will be able to get you 
some valuable specimens during this season, as Mr. Rum- 
lien told me of a few specimens wanted, and fishermen 
here tell me they will save them as perfect as possible. 
, R. J. Sawyer. 
X —■ ■ 
Fish Culture in New Hampshire.— Manchester, N. H.. 
Nov. 3 d . — My colleague, Mr. Powers, writes me that he 
has taken his twentieth salmon at the Hatchery at 
Plymouth, making eleven females and nine males, rang¬ 
ing from twenty-eight to thirty-eight inches in length, 
and has already taken over 30,000 eggs. This is, I be¬ 
lieve, the first record of a large lot of ova taken from fish 
which have returned to the waters from artificial 
planting, and is worthy of a big mark in your records of 
fish culture. 
Powers also says that lie has taken over 100,000 brook 
trout eggs, and is getting more daily. Our breeders began 
to spawn September 28th, this year ; October 8th, last 
year; October 18th, year before last. Livingstone Stone 
attributes the earlier date of spawning to the uniform tem¬ 
perature of the spring water in which the fish are kept. 
Sam Webber. 
P. S.—Your list of Fish Commissioners makes me a 
Dutchman, " Weber ;” please correct. S. W. 
Jl #ttmd Jjuitorg. 
PRESENT STATUS OF PASSER DOMES- 
TICUS IN AMERIGA. 
I T is unnecessary to remind the readers of Forest and 
Stream that for several years past war has been 
raging in ornithological circles on the subject of the Eng¬ 
lish sparrow. While not taking any very active part in 
the conflict, preferring to occupy the position of a spec¬ 
tator rather than that of a combatant, we have opened 
our columns freely to writers on both sides of the question, 
and communications from the two champions of the op¬ 
posing armies have several times appeared in Forest 
and Stream. Although, as has been said, we have not 
taken any prominent part in the debate, we have 
had from the first an opinion on tlie subject under dis¬ 
cussion, and have not hesitated from time to time to ex¬ 
press it, For some time past—whether because both sides 
were exhausted by the fury of recent battles, or because 
the pro-sparrow army is small and their opponents nu¬ 
merically very strong, we do not know—there has been 
a hill in the conflict. The Boston Journal and Advertiser 
have ceased to print the usual weekly column or two on 
One side or the other of the question, and the pages of the 
Naturalist no longer bristle with the sharp, incisive par¬ 
agraphs with which Dr. Coues is wont to dismember tlie 
unfortunate enemy who may meet him when he has his 
war-paint on. 
We are glad that there has been a cessation of hostili¬ 
ties, even though it he only temporary. Let no one fancy 
that the war is over, or even that an armistice has been 
arranged. Nothing of the kind. The rest, brief though 
it has been, will serve to gi\*e fresh strength and energy 
to the hostile forces, and before long we may expect to 
hear of new movements, in comparison with which all 
previous engagements shall appear as mere petty skir¬ 
mishing. Already our ears catch the not distant mutter- 
iftgs of fresh encounters. 
The period of inaction has certainly not been wasted by 
the anti-sparrow party; for its leader, Dr. Cones, has pre¬ 
pared, and recently published, in the Bulletin of the 
U. S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Terri¬ 
tories, a contribution to the literature of this subject 
which will be likely to prove a formidable weapon against 
the friends of the sparrow. The full title of the paper is 
“ On the Present Status of the Passer Domesticus in 
America, with Special Reference to the Western States and 
Territories.” It is a small, unpretentious pamphlet of less 
than twenty pages, but between its tee-colored covers 
there is meat so strong that we tremble for the digestion 
of some of our Boston friends who wifi have to swal¬ 
low it. 
The paper is simply a bibliography of the sparrow war. 
Dr. Coues opens with a couple of pages calling attention 
to the rapid increase and dispersion of the birds and to the 
danger to the crops unless some measures he taken to put 
a check on this increase. He states that it has occurred 
to him that the simplest way of bringing the matter be¬ 
fore the people and causing them to realize the danger, 
which he regards as imminent, to be feared from the Eng¬ 
lish sparrow, is to give in detail, with comments, the his¬ 
tory of the controversy. The bibliography which follows, 
and which he has compiled, contains nearly two hundred 
titles, mainly from newspapers, and is annotated through¬ 
out, so that the main points of all the more important ar¬ 
ticles are given. To show how widespread an interest has 
been taken in this controversy, it is only necessary to 
mention some Of the ^well known naturalists who have 
written on the subject. Besides Drs. Brewer and Coues, 
the former of whom is credited with a score of articles 
favoring the birds, and the latter with a dozen antagon¬ 
istic to them, we see the names of Dr. Charles Pickering, 
C. V. Riley, J. A, Allen, C. Bendire, R. Deane, IT. A. Pur- 
die, H. A. Hagen, W. Brewster, and many others. 
The paper is most interesting and valuable. It would 
he still more so were it possible to give the names of all 
the authors whose articles are cited. This is manifestly 
out of the question, since, as has been said, most of the ar¬ 
ticles belong to the fugitive literature of the daily press, 
where anonymas do most abound. Dr. Coues earnestly 
requests that he may be informed of any additions or cor¬ 
rections which the reader may notice, and we feel sure that 
he will gratefully acknowledge any help of this kind 
which he may receive. 
HAIR WORMS. 
T HE extraordinary and inexcusable carelessness of 
many newspapers in reporting natural history 
matters is so well known that it seems almost superfluous 
to call attention to it. Every now and then, however, 
some extravagant blunder arouses our indignation, and 
we hopelessly rise up and enter our protest against the 
idiotically stupid errors that are propagated by careless 
scissors wielders. The erroneous statements which are 
made and set in motion through the press in this way 
would not be so bad if it were not for the fact that a very 
considerable portion of the newspaper reading public be¬ 
lieves implicitly that every thing that appears in print is 
of necessity true. They do not know, as do the readers 
of Forest and Stream, that a large proportion of news¬ 
paper writers are densely ignorant on all subjects, and 
that three-fourths of the remainder are so careless about 
their facts that their statements must be accepted very 
cautiously indeed. The polite reader may, of course, 
turn away his face, and with a smile whisper to himself : 
“ Mutato nomine, the fable maybe related with regard 
to yourself, my dear sir.” True enough, oh reader: but 
you must remember that Forest and Stream is a publi¬ 
cation which is read by people, many or most of whom 
understand the subjects of which it treats, and that, 
therefore, any editorial blunders are at once noticed and 
speedily criticised ; so that in self-defence those who 
write for it are forced to be exact as to their statements 
and cautious as to how they treat matters about which 
there is any controversy. We ask nothing better than 
that when you catch us blundering you should bring us 
up to the snubbing post with a round turn. 
We have been moved to grumble on this subject by a 
clipping from the San Francisco Call, sent to us by our 
valuable friend and correspondent, T. S. V. D,, of San 
Diego, Cal. The astute individual who brandishes tlie 
scissors in the Call office had cut from a recent issue of 
Forest and Stream (July 31, 79,) a note written by N. 
A. T., of Texas, in which he states that he had seen horse 
hairs in process of transformation into snakes, or worms. 
We appended to this communication an editorial note, 
stating in brief terms that the superstition referring to 
this supposed transformation was respectable only on ac¬ 
count of its age, and that the habits of Gordius and its 
allies were now quite well known. All of this correction, 
however, was omitted by the Call man, or hoy, and N. A. 
T.’s communication was printed without a word of ex¬ 
planation or comment. The story is such an old and pos- 
itively decrepit one that it could not have been copied 
for the purpose of surprising or startling any one. The 
smallest hoy is familiar with and possibly believes it dur¬ 
ing a few years of his callow juvenility, hut scarcely any 
one else who takes tlie trouble to think about the matter 
credits it. 
For the benefit, however, of such of our readers as have 
been iuterested iu “hair snakes” during boyhood, we pro¬ 
pose to give a veiy brief outline of some of their habits 
and peculiarities. The development of these Entozoa, 
though very obscure and difficult to trace, has yet been 
made out with a considerable degree of 'clearness ; and, 
for the. main additions to our knowledge of this difficult 
group, science is indebted to Dr. Joseph Leidy and M. A. 
Villot. It has recently been found, too, by Messrs. Riley 
and Packard that tlie hair worm is a valuable ally of 
tlie farmer, in that it is a formidable enemy of the locust, 
which has in recent years done so mucli damage to crops 
in the West. One observer indeed states that, in a cer¬ 
tain section of Minnesota, these worms destroyed in 1875 
as many ’hoppers as any other enemy. The worm or 
worms are found coiled up within the locust, occupyiug 
almost the whole inside of the body. 
Tlie Gordius is most easily found in late summer or 
early autumn in still pools of water near the shores of 
creeks or rivers, aud though really quite common, is eas¬ 
ily overlooked, owing to Its resemblance to the fibres of 
dead vegetation likely to be found in such situations and 
among which it often lies. Sometimes several are found 
together twisted and knotted into a tangled niasB, and 
