8S6 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
First Shad op the Season.— We have to record the 
receipt in our markets of the first Savannah. River shad 
of the season. They came in last week. By reference to 
our files of last year we find that their earliest then was 
Nov, 29th. Strange to say, a roe shad was caught on 
Nov. 19th last year in the Hudson River, near PeekskiU, 
and three male shad off West Hampton, L. I., on the 
23d of tire same month. As the season for shad is popu¬ 
larly supposed to end about the 1st of July, the period 
when they can be found in our markets seems to extend 
over seven months. 
A Giant Pike. —Talk about great pike I Why the Esox 
lucius of Great Britain can’t shine beside our nobUior for 
weight, game and flavor. We are this week in receipt of 
a photograph of a muscallonge which was referred to 
recently in our columns. That the size of the fish may 
be appreciated, the artist lias pictured it as held up be¬ 
tween two tall men, whose shoulders it reaches. The 
weight is forty-five pounds and the length four feet. 
This is a big fish. Minnows have no chance in a school of 
such fellows. 
Carp as a Game Pish. —Now that we are to have carp 
m all (?) our waters, it will bo interesting to our readers to 
know in what estimation they are held abroad as a game 
fish. In Piscatorial Reminiscences we find the following : 
The carp is a very wary fish, and requires the angler’s 
utmost patience to ensnare. The biting time of ttos fish 
(particularly of large carp) is' very early in tbo morning. 
They delight in still waters, where there are large flags 
and weeds, with broad leaves. One of the best methods 
of angling for carp is to gently drop in a line leaded with 
a single shot only, which will be sufficient to sink the 
bait. Do this in the following manner: Let the bait so 
r ail that itself and a few inches of the line, with the shot, 
may rest on one of the large leaves, the bait itself hang¬ 
ing within the water, over the edge of such a leaf; this 
bait must be red worm, with a gentle to cover the point 
of the hook ; when you observe the shot drawn from the 
leaf, give the fish time to swallow his bait. But if you 
are fishing with paste or boiled green peas, etc... strike 
instantly ; let your tackle be strong, for the carp will 
afford you sport. You me enabled to judge of their 
haunts." when you hear them smack, or suck, asit is some¬ 
times called. Throw in some slices of bread as ground- 
bait on the over night; and cast in, while angling, some 
small pieces, like peas, if you use paste ; hut the ground- 
bait is sufficient to entice them to the place. Carp ex¬ 
hibit more or less of color according to their age and the 
waters they inhabit; those taken from ponds will be 
greatly benefited in taste by being put into river water for 
ten days or a fortnight. Carp feed upon the larva: of 
insects, worms, spawn and young shoots of water plants, 
for which reason it is found beneficial to carp ponds, 
when the water is low, to sow grass-seeds round the 
edges, etc. They will live a long time out of water, and, 
with proper care in changing their Utter (keepingit moist), 
they may be transported to a great distance. Dr. Block 
gays: Seven ships are employed in this trade to a great 
extent, from Polish Prussia to Stockholm, and are said to 
produce an ample profit. Carp were introduced into 
England in the year 1514.— [Piscatorial Reminiscences. 
Movements .op the Pishing Fleet.— Only five fishing 
arrivals have been reported at this port the past week- 
four from Georges with 44,000 pounds codfish and 24,000 
pounds halibut, and one from the Banks with 2,000 pounds 
halibut, — [ Cape Ann Advertiser, Dec. 5th. 
Virginia —Leesburg, Dec. 5th .—I saw a black bass just 
now weighing five pounds and a quarter, caught by an 
old colored man named Johnston. Bass caught this fall 
have been unusually large, but have not been taken in 
great numbers. T, W. 
Dressing ilS lines.— To a quarter pint of “double- 
boiled cold-drawn” linseed oil add about one ounce of 
gold size ; gently warm and mix them well, being first 
careful to have the line quite dry. While the mixture is 
warm, soak it therein till it is fully saturated to its very 
centre, say for twenty-four hours; then pass it through a 
piece of flannel, pressing it sufficiently to take off the 
superficial coat, which enables that which is in the inte¬ 
rior to dry well and in time to get stiff, The line must 
then be hung up in the air, wind or sun, out of the reach 
of moisture for about a fortnight until pretty well dry; 
it must then be re-dipped to give an outer coat, for which 
less soaking is necessary. After this, wipe it again, but 
lightly ; wind it on a chair-back or towel-horse before a 
hot fire, and there let it remain for two or three hours, 
which will cause the mixture on it to “flow" (as japan- 
ners term it) and give it an even gloss over the whole. It 
muBt then be left to dry as before : the length of time, as 
it depends on the weather and place, observation must 
determine upon. By this means it becomes impervious to 
wet, and sufficiently stiff never to clog or entangle, the 
oil producing the former quality, and the gold size (which 
is insoluble in water) the latter ; while the commixture 
prevents tire size becoming too hard and stiff. A trolling- 
line should he thus dressed every season at least, 
Do Grilse Spawn?—! hare been asked by a gentle¬ 
man interested in biology whether grilse spawn, and 
whether they return to the fresh water the same year 
they go down as smolts, and whether they remain a year 
in tilie sea. In my opinion some may return the same 
year they go down as smolts, but some certainly stay one, 
if not two years in the sea. As regards the female grilse 
making its nest and depositing its eggs, I am not quite 
certain. AVhen collecting salmon eggs for Australia and 
New Zealand I do not recollect liaving caught a grilse 
with eggs in her. I should be very grateful to our corres¬ 
pondents if they can produce any positive evidence that 
they do spawn. By a grilse of course is meant a fish 
running up from its first return from the sea.— Frank 
Auckland, in Land and Water. 
There is no doubt that the male grilse in America come 
to maturity, but we do not learn that the females ever 
do, Many male grilse contain full milt 
Showers of Spider’s Webs.— Since Mr. Geo. A, Board- 
man’s note, under the above heading, was sent to the 
printer, we have remembered Dr. G. Linceeuin’s inter¬ 
esting article in the American Naturalist which explains 
the phenomenon observed by Mr. Boardman, though fur¬ 
ther observations on the question raised are needed. Dr, 
Lincecum’s article is entitled The Gossamer Spider, and 
it is to be found in Vol. VIII of the publication cited, p. 
593, October, 1874, Additional information on this sub¬ 
ject is given in Emerton’s Structure and Habits of 
Spiders. 
! The Cabbage Worm Parasites.— All, or nearly all, 
of the cabbage that was raised in this part of the country 
the past season was entirely destroyed, or badly injured 
by the green cabbage worm, after the heads were well de¬ 
veloped ; and as our own cabbage shared the same 
fate, I have had an opportunity to study some of the hab¬ 
its of this pest. Several weeks ago, I noticed that the 
full-grown worms left the cabbage and sought shelter in 
an old building near by. They came in such numbers 
that the building is almost lined with them. They 
would crawl up to a good Bafe place and attach them¬ 
selves very securely in three places, at either side and at 
the posterior extremity, to the wood, by a tenacious 
white thread-like substanae. When fastened thus, I no¬ 
ticed that they were preyed upon by a tiny four-winged 
yellow-legged fly. A glutinous liquid issued from the 
iarvEein several places, and I supposed the flies were feed¬ 
ing upon it. In a few days a tlnn crust—the color of the 
wood upon which they were fastened—would form upon, 
and encase the worms. I noticed, also, that after this 
casing was formed upon the worms, they were never mo- 
by the flies. 
I opened one of the cases to examine the moth, and to 
my astonishment, found it literally crammed full of the 
tiny white lame (fifty in number) of these flies. I opened 
perhaps a dozen others, and found them the same, except 
that in some the young flies had developed and were 
making their way out through little perforations that 
they had, perhaps, gnawed in the casing. 
The glutinous liquid that I had noticed upon the worms, 
had, I presume, escaped through the perforations that 
these insects had made, in which to deposit their eggs. 
How wisely nature guards against excess, and keeps 
most things within proper bounds. Had all the lame of 
the cabbage moth developed, their numbers would have 
been almost startling. 
I send you one of the perforated cases from which the 
young flies have escaped ; also one containing the young 
larva?, and a specimen of the fly and cabbage worm. 
Goralville, Johnson Co., Iowa, Nov. 17th. W. 
The observations made by our correspondent are ex¬ 
tremely interesting, but require to be supplemented by a 
few remarks by us. "With the note, which we publish, 
were received several specimens of the pupae of the cab¬ 
bage worm, two of which were brown and evidently 
dead, and proved, on examination, to be filled with the 
larva; of the “ fly.” A spe c i m en of the “fly,” examined, 
shows, as might be inferred from our correspondent’s 
statement that it is four-winged, that it is not a fly, but 
a chalcid hymenopter, belonging in the same order with 
bees, wasps, etc. The specimen appears to be Pteromalus 
puparum, an insect which has been known to be a na¬ 
tive of the Hudson’s Bay Territory since 1844. The 
pupae appear to belong to the cabbage butterfly, Pieris 
oleraeea. though it is possible that they may he those of 
another species (P. rapes). 
The history of Pteromalus puparum was first made 
known to science by Mr. A. G. T. Richie, of Montreal, 
who reared many of them from the caterpillars of the 
cabbage butterfly. The value to the farmer of the ser¬ 
vices of the little insect is very great, and its general dis¬ 
persion over the United States is very desirable. "VVe had 
not, previous to the receipt of our correspondent’s note, 
heard of it in the west, and we shall be interested to leam 
if it distribution there is general. 
Our correspondent, who is evidently a close observer, 
is to be congratulated on having noticed the interesting 
facts which she communicates, and upon having fur¬ 
nished such full description and material as to render the 
identification of the parasites an easy matter. 
Canada Grouse. —The writer of the article on the 
“Drumming of the Canada Grouse,”published in our 
issue of November 20th, wishes us to state that the oou- 
ular observations referred to were not his own, but those 
of Mr. John Nelson of Cap Rouge, to whom he wishes to 
give the proper credit. 
The National Museum.— Hidden from sight by the 
noble trees which make the Smithsonian grounds the 
pleasantest retreat in Washington, is a large but modest 
brick structure, which, when it shall be completed and 
filled with the treasures now hidden away in packing 
boxes, will be one of the finest museums in the world. 
For the past three years Professor Baird has worked for 
tins building with great energy and perseverance, and 
last winter Congress rewarded his efforts with ait appro¬ 
priation of $250,000. A model of the new building, 
which is displayed in the main corridor of the Smiths¬ 
onian Institute building, shows a square, red-brick build¬ 
ing, all but the central part one story high. “The idea 
of the building,” writes Professor Baird, “ is due to Gen¬ 
eral Meigs, although the details and special adaptations 
were worked out by Messrs. Cluss & Schultz, the archi¬ 
tects. the principal feature being the arrangement of 
every thing on one floor of a square building of great ex¬ 
tent, in wliich there shall be no interruption to the drain¬ 
age of the water from the centre of the roof to the ex¬ 
terior. I do not know an edifice constructed precisely like 
our new building, and I am confident that it will make 
a new era in public architecture in its economy of space 
combined with a minimum of expense, being at the 
same time entirely fire-proof.” 
The building is relieved bv the straw-colored Milwaukee 
and blue-faced brick, and the Ohio sandstone lintels and 
cornices. Between the arched windows are bosses of 
stone with foliated ornaments. The supports of the roof 
are substantil brick columns, and the interior is arranged 
to utilize all the space possible for tlie exhibition of speci¬ 
mens. It is intended that the new building shall be de¬ 
voted more particularly to industrial exhibits, the na¬ 
tural history objects being retained in 'the Smithsonian, 
where they now are. Special space will be given to the 
display of mineral wealth arranged by States, comities 
and mines . — Christian Uuion. 
The English Sparrow Once More— Quebec, Canada, 
Dee., 1st .—The common house sparrow is fully estab¬ 
lished in Canada (but it is terribly slaughtered by the 
great Northern shrike, commonly called the butcher 
bird). It is, however, a powerful assistant against in¬ 
sects, and will soon become an object of sport for small 
boys and an ingredient for sparrow pies. I have already 
eaten the sparrow at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, 
and I have no doubt it will become a delicacy in other 
great hotels. 
Some of your writers I note, are afraid these European 
birds will, like the white man, drive the red man’s birds 
out of the country. This is likely enough ; the civiliza • 
tion of the Old World has destroyed everything purely 
American, and apparently will not stay its hand. It does, 
however, feed the the Irishman's sparrow ; arid we must 
hope it will respect the farmer’s quail. W. Rhodes, 
Sh M^nel 
THE N. A. K. FIELD TRIALS. 
S ATURDAY morning Nellie and Bow were put down 
to run off for second and third places, hut after a 
short run their owners took them up again. The record 
for the whole trial being this : — 
In the Free for All, Lincoln won first, and the honors 
of second and third were divided between Nellie, Bow, 
and Dash ; but the latter wins the money for the third 
prize ($100), while Bow and Nellie divide the second 
money ($150). " 
Then came the Brace Stakes ; of the five braces en¬ 
tered, Mr. Smith withdrew his Paris and Lass O’ Lowrie, 
and Mr. Sanborn also withdrew Macbeth and Desdemona. 
The remaining braces were Bow and Faust, Nellie and 
Dan, and Lincoln and Fred. 
Bow and Faust were put down by Whitman, and im¬ 
mediately exhibited good work, quartering and ranging 
in good style. Faust made the first point, and was well 
backed by Bow, the covey flushing and both dogs drop¬ 
ping to wing. Two false points for Bow followed, Faust 
backing him each time, Bow also discovering his error 
and moving on. The subsequent count of the heat was 
for Bow, a point, a back, and a second back; for Faust, 
four points. They were down fifty-five minutes. 
Nellie and Dan, handled by Sanborn, were then put 
down, both dogs opening the heat with magnificent 
work. There score was, for Nellie, four points and one 
bird retrieved; Dan, three points and one bird retrieved 
time, forty-five minutes. 
Dan then put Lincoln and Count Fred down, Lincoln 
showing to the greatera dvantage in ranging. The work 
done was a point for Lincoln, backodby Count Fred, the 
latter retrieving the bird. Then Lincoln pointed again 
in fin e style, Fred again backing him; the brace being 
taken up: time,'.forty minutes. The committee retired 
for their decision, ballotting for the position that each 
brace should occupy, the result being that Nellie and Dan 
were first, Lincoln and Count Fred second, Bow and Faust 
third. It was the general expression that Bow and Faust 
deserved first in the braces. 
THE YELLOW DOG AND THE ASTROL- 
OGIST. 
T HE “ Lost and Found ” and “Rewards” columns of 
the daily papers always have their complement of 
lost dogs, for the return of whioh the anxious owners are 
willing to pay liberally. Last Sunday’s Herald, for in¬ 
stance, advertised among amethyst ear-rings, watches, 
pocket-books, seal-skin sacques, seal rings, and law pa¬ 
pers, a blue skye-terrier, named Jack, reward $5; a black 
spaniel shepherd dog, collar marked “Hubert,” suitable 
reward ; a setter dog, roan color, short tail, reward $5 ; 
Scotch terrier dog, lost on Broadway, blue ribbon on 
neck, reward $5; a blaek-and-tan, long-haired bitch, lost 
in Fifth avenue, reward $10; white and red setter, Dash 
upstanding, light nose, small dark wart on eyelid, reward 
$20; a black-and-tan dog, ears cut, collar edge scarlet 
$75 reward. There are seven dogs in one day’s paper 
We once began to make clippings of these notices for a 
summary at the end of the year of New York's lost dogs 
but we tired of it. There is a deal of romantic adventure 
in metropolitan dog life—romantic as viewed from the 
dog’s standpoint. A certain unsavory novel, by a more 
popular than proper writer of fiction, narrates the adven¬ 
tures of a lost dog and of the various classes of society in 
which he finds himself. To follow the fortunes of a pet 
or a valuable field dog strayed, lost, or stolen in New 
York would involve the description of some interesting 
phazes of city existence. We have some memoranda for 
such a story. Possibly when the winter evenings are 
here we may take our readers through the devious wind¬ 
ings of these very crooked paths. Of comae we should 
come across the fortune tellers and astrologers and the 
wonderful child gifted with second sight. A writer in 
