1 8 8 2 .] Ichthyologir.al Papers. 385 



wide open and his sinewy tail dealing death on every side. The 

 wary bass retires to his shady nook, and the little patasa dive 

 deeper into their rooty recesses at his approach, and woe betide 

 the unlucky wight who trails his well filled string of bass at the 

 stern of his pirogue ; the river robber is sure to attempt a rescue, 

 and well will it be for the angler, as seizure once made, if he have 

 a single fish left, of his morning's sport. 



During the months of December and January the fish seek the 

 heads of the still and almost stagnant bayous or the deep caves 

 of the sluggish rivers to deposit their spawn. The eggs are held 

 suspended in a thick gelatinous transparent substance, forming 

 long ropes several inches in diameter, which are hung on old 

 snags, roots or branches of trees that have fallen into the water. 

 The spawn has much the appearance of that of the frog, with 

 the exception of the circular form it assumes, and the size of the 

 eggs, which are about as large as No. 4 shot, and of a dark pur- 

 ple color. The young come forth during the spring, and tiny 

 little rascals they are, but they grow with astonishing rapidity, 

 and by the latter part of August are some fourteen inches in 

 length and weigh several ounces ; in one year they reach a weight 

 of from nine to twelve pounds, and go on increasing to several 

 hundreds. Large numbers of these fry are destroyed by other 

 fish, and well that it is so, otherwise no fish could live in any of 

 the rivers for them, the ovaries of a large fish containing several 

 hundred thousand eggs. 



Well skilled are ye, my piscatory brethren of the North, in the 

 art of killing trout and salmon, rock and pickerel, and truly you 

 have beautiful customers to deal with, but I would put you with 

 your Conroy's and your plaited silk, at a sixty pound Poipon 

 D'Armee, and in an hour you would be hookless, Iineless and 

 rodless, and only have for satisfaction that you had seen the lazy 

 hulk roll his huge form in sport over the surface. Few of you 

 would come off victorious in your first day, but when you be- 

 came acquainted with your customer, and learned the necessary 

 f'Sg'ng, then would the armed monster repent of his appetite for 

 mullet or sardine. 



Although I have taken many small gar, from twenty to thirty 

 Pounds, with a light fly rod and a single gut, yet I never fish for 

 them with such tackle, for where you succeed in striking one in 

 a tender place and beyond the reach of his tremendous jaws, you 



