340 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



In 1880 a remarkable mortality occurred among the fishes of 



the Gulf of Mexico, which was ascribed to " poisoned water." 



In 1844, and again in 1854, and especially in 1878, similar 



fatalities had occurred. The earlier manifestations appear to 



have been the floating up of vast quantities of dead sponges — 



chiefly "loggerheads." According to Mr. E. Ingersoll, the attack 



of 1880 began suddenly, and immediately followed the terrible 



hurricane which is known as the "August gale," the fish and all 



other ocean life suddenly dying in hordes all along the southern 



(eastern) shore of Tampa Bay, on Egmont Key, at its mouth, 



which was its most northern point, and thence southward as far 



as Shark Eiver, in Whitewater Bay, on the coast. Thence fatal 



localities were to be found in the currents that set southward 



through Bahia Honda Passage, through the North-west Passage 



beyond Key West, and even out in the neighbourhood of the far 



isolated Tortugas. Everywhere throughout this whole extent of 



coast, except in the mouths of the rivers and in the shallow 



bayous, all the forms of sea life died as though stricken by a 



plague fatal alike to all, and were drifted upon the beaches in 



long windrows so dense that near human habitations men were 



obliged to unite in burying them to prevent a pestilential stench, 



or to haul them away by wagon-loads to be prepared for manure, 



as was done in some cases. Besides fishes, sponges, crabs, and 



great numbers of molluscs were destroyed.* Mr. Ingersoll 



suggests that eruptions of volcanic gases may have taken place 



through the bottom of the sea. Mr. M. A. Moore wrote that 



about 1878, " whenever a smack with a full fare, i. e. a full 



cargo of fine healthy fish in her well, sailed into this poisoned 



water, every fish would die, and they would have to be thrown 



away." t Mr. S. H. Johnson states that " after very heavy rains 



and overflowing of rivers, the inner bays on the Texas coast 



suffer a loss of from one-half to three-fourths of their stock of 



salt-water fish, not including Mullet, which live as well in fresh 



as salt water." . . . "After a heavy rain and a freeze " in 



the winter of 1880-1, "all the salt-water fish in the Laguna del 



Madre (a large sheet of water lying between Padre Island and 



the mainland) were found dead on the banks." | 



* ' Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus.' vol. iv. pp. 74-G. 

 f Ibid., p. 125. f Ibid., p. 205. 



