208 



RECREATION. 



MASCALONGUS (masca, mask; longus, 

 long) :* 



aa. Cheeks as well as opercles with the 

 lower half naked; branchiostegals 17 to 19: 

 dorsal rays 17; anal rays 15; scales in lateral 

 line about 150; middle of eye midway be- 

 tween tip of lower jaw and gill opening; 

 head 3 2-3 in length of body; snout 2 1-3 

 in head; eye more than 4 times in length 

 of snout. Color dark gray, the sides usu- 

 ally with scattered round black spots, 

 sometimes immaculate, sometimes banded 

 with dark; fins spotted with black; size 

 very large. masquinongy. 



THE SHOVEL NOSED STURGEON. 



In a recent Recreation is the following: 

 " I saw D. T. Smith land a 17%. pound 

 shovel mouth cat, on a 4 ounce rod." 



I should like to know what a " shovel 

 mouth cat " is. We have here in the 

 Mississippi, a fish locally called shovel 

 nosed sturgeon. This fish neither resem- 

 bles a sturgeon nor a catfish, except in. its 

 naked skin. It tapers gracefully to the tail. 

 Is small and round where the tail com- 

 mences and has a heterocercal tail. It is 

 called, in some localities on the Ohio river 

 " paddle fish," as the projection from the 

 end of the snout bears a close resemblance 

 to the blade of a paddle. 



Its technical name is Pollyodon folium. 



1 think it is found only in the Mississippi 

 and Ohio rivers and their tributaries, and in 

 the Yang tse kiang, in China. It rarely if 

 ever takes bait, and when caught is usually 

 hooked accidentally. It is in no sense a 

 game fish and does not fight much when 

 hooked. It lives on conferva, fish eggs and 

 wofms. I am told they use the paddle to 

 stir up the mud in the river bottom, but I 

 never saw them doing this. It hibernates 

 in winter. I have examined the stomachs 

 of many caught in the winter, with seines 

 drawn under the ice, and never found any 

 food in them at this season. 



I have seen them over 4 feet in length. 

 Its technical name, Pollyodon folium, I 

 think is a misnomer, as I have never seen a 

 full grown fish of this kind that had a tooth 

 in its jaws. 



They have large mouths, ample gill rakes 

 and perfect gill covers on the outside, and 



2 blowholes near the front of the upper jaw, 

 about an eighth of an inch in diameter. 



It would seem that they swim with mouth 

 and gill covers open, and that the con- 

 ferva and other food is caught on the gill 

 rake. When they wish to swallow their 

 food, they force water through the gill 

 which holds the food and blow the water 



out of the blow holes, thus detaching the 

 food from the gill rake. 



Horace Beach, Prairie du Chien, Wis. 



*An erroneous etymology of the word muscalonge, 

 formerly supposed to be from the French Masque 

 allongie^ long face. The word' is now known to be of 

 Indian origin, Mas-Kinonge. Ki7i07igi\s, apparently the 

 same word as Kozane. 



COSTLY FISHING. 



Nathaniel Bentley, Jesse Honeywell, 

 John Shaw and son, Arthur Shaw, of this 

 city, went to East Stony creek, near Hope, 

 Hamilton county, 10 days ago and returned 

 Saturday with a fine lot of fish, which, 

 however, will probably be one of the most 

 valuable ever brought to Gloversville. 

 The party camped on the creek, back in the 

 woods, and were about 5 miles from any 

 road or habitation. They found the fishing 

 fairly good, but being so far from civiliza- 

 tion concluded that the game laws were 

 inoperative there and many baby trout 

 were lured from their haunts and placed in 

 pails. { 



The party had fished 5 days when Game 

 Protector Emmett Lobdell, of Northville, 

 walked into camp and asked to see their 

 fish. A pail of trout which had been salted 

 down was the first inspected by the game 

 protector, and a rule indicated that 43 trout 

 lacking from 2 l / 2 to 3 inches of the legal 

 6 inch limit had been caught. In another 

 pail were a number of fish about 5 inches 

 long. 



The protector questioned the party as to 

 the ownership of the fish and secured 2 

 affidavits to the effect that they belonged 

 to the fishermen of the camp. The latter 

 did not claim ignorance of the law, but 

 said they never expected to see a game 

 protector as far back in the wilderness as 

 they were. Mr. Lobdell warned the party 

 not to take any more small trout and re- 

 turned to Northville. The fishermen were 

 all responsible men and he did not con- 

 sider it necessary to arrest them. 



He then referred the matter to Chief 

 Protector Pond, and this morning received 

 a letter from that official directing him to 

 prosecute the men unless they made a set- 

 tlement. Lobdell will communicate with 

 the members of the party, and if they de- 

 sire to settle, the matter will be closed; 

 but if otherwise they will be prosecuted. 

 The penalty is $10 for each fish of illegal 

 size, and as there were 43 fish, the bill will 

 be $430.— Gloversville (N. Y.) " Daily 

 Leader." 



SOME MICHIGAN SWINE. 



A Michigan reader recently sent me a 

 clipping from the Elk Rapids " Progress " , 

 of which. the following is a copy: 



Rob Rex, John Lickley, Alex. Sharp and Harry 

 Briggs spent the greater part of last week on Rapid 

 river. They returned Friday evening with over 800 

 brook trout, several of which weighed from % to \% 

 pounds each. 



My correspondent requested me to roast 

 these men, but I thought best to verify the 

 statement before doing so. Accordingly 

 I wrote Mr. Harry Briggs and asked him 



