FOREST AND* STREAM. 



■■■.■■' i ■ i is. QUI. 



ROOK BASS— KKt) EVE. 



The waters of the State fairly swarm, with lllis fflieeffj and free- 

 Ming tisli. lie will take anything in the form ol a l.ait.. and on tins ao- 



la quite a favorite with many. He is not lacking in gamy fea- 

 tures, and will often weigh as much an two ponmls. 

 Hi/jit'i -is/iii* !l,'xarannthus. Gill. 

 SI'OTTKIl I1AS8. SlI.VElt BASS, 11 A R FISH, L'RurriE. 



T'i is pretty and polyonomons lit.h ia extremely common throughout 



I lie State, lining round In lite same waters with the rock bass and yellow 



perch. He is a bold and voracious lish, and rnruishes good sport to the 



still fisher, often exceeding two pounds in weight, 



Po»io!i:< AV/r&v*, Quuther. 



COMMON SUN-FISH. PUMPKIN SEED. 



Iehthelte Mtidus {?)• Rill. 



I.ONO-EAIIED SUNFISB. 



These two varieties of sunlish are very plentiful in all waters of the 

 Stale, and are the special objects of pursuits of juvenile anglers. 



FAMILY ESOCID/E. 



.7.',~n.r Xobilior. Thompson. 



MUSEELIiTJNOB. MASCALONOR. 



This noble fish, the giant of fresh water game fishes, inhabits the 

 lakes in the extreme northern portion of the State and Lake Superior. 

 He is found in all his glory iu the lakes now accessible by the Wiscon- 

 sin Central Railroad, where he is taken frequently weighing forty 

 pounds. The capture of one of these monsters is regarded as the 

 height of piscatorial ambition. 



Jittax Lucius. Linnnms. 



PIKE— NORTHERN PICKEREL. 



This tyrant of the waters abounds in most of the lakes and rivers of 

 Wisconsin, growing to the weight of twenty poundB. He is extremely 

 fierce and voracious, will bite at, anything In the shape of bait, from an 

 angle worm to a spring chicken. He is not considered gamy iu this 

 section, being more, of a bully than a fighter, a poacher rather than a 

 sportsman, a dunghill rather than a thoroughbred. Ho is full of bones, 

 aud a poor table lisb. 



FAMILY SAiMONTDjE. 



Sahno Namaycush. Pennant. 



MACKINAW TROUT. SALMON TROUT. LAKE THOUT. 



This is principally a commercial fish, and is taken in Lake Superior, 

 in the neighborhood of Ashland and Bayfield, also in Lake Michigan, at 

 Green Bay and other points. It is a good table fish, a ravenous feeder 

 and can be taken by trolling with the spoon, or a hook baited with her- 

 ring. Ill the winter they are caught in large numbers through the ice, 

 biting greedily at a piece of pork for bait. He is a hard fighting and 

 Btiong palling fish. 



Salmo Siscowet. Agassiz. 



SISCOWET. BISKAWITZ. 



This is also a commercial fish, and much superior to the Mackinaw 

 trout in flavor, though he does not grow nearly so large. He Inhabits 

 Lake Superior only, and is taken iu nets in the vicinity of the Apostle 

 islands, tie is frequently taken by trolling with aitiliolal and natural 

 bait. 



Salmo Fonti.nalis. Mitchell. 



SPECKLED BROOK TROUT. 



This favorite and peerless fish is taken iu the streams in the western 

 pait of the State, which empty into the Mississippi River above Prairie 

 flu Chlen, and in those emptying into Lake Superior and Green Bay. 

 The largest trout and best fishing is in the immediate vicinity of Ash- 

 land and Bayfield on Lake Superior. 



:<>iiu& AUnw. La Sueur. 

 white FISH, 

 The whitefish is famous as being the very best table lish that inhab- 

 its fresh waters. It is strictly a commercial fish, and is taken exclu- 

 sively in nets in Lake Superior and Michigan, though I have heard of 

 their being taken with the artificial fly at certain seasons in Lake Meii- 

 dota, near Madison, into which lake they were introduced by Gov. Far- 

 well U11S5-1. 



Argyro&omus Clupciforrais. Agassiz. 



LAKE UERWNU-. 



This fish, which by the way is not a herring but a sisco, inhabits the 

 shoal waters of Lakes Michigan and Superior. It is also a commercial 

 lis'', bat is caught in considerable numbers about the docks and piers 

 with hook and line in the spring and fall ; they may also be taken with 

 the ily. 



Argyrosoimts Sisco. Jordan. 

 sisco. 



This is the sisco, the most noted member of the family, and is found 

 in Lake Geneva, near Geneva, and in Lakes Oeonomowoc, Nashotah, 

 Nemnhbiu, La Belle, aud perhaps others near Oeonomowoc. During 

 the month of June they are taken in large numbers with the "sisco 

 fly"— a grayish fly that covei-3 the lakes at that time. They are also 

 taken in winter through the ice at a depth of fifty feet or more. They 

 may also be taken with a small white or gray artificial fly in June. 

 Argyromnus Hoyi. Gill. 



MOON-EYE. 



Argyrosomus Mgripennis. Gill. 

 BLACK FIN. 



These two varieties of sisco are found in Lake Michigan. The black- 

 fin is occasionally taken with the fly. 



In the above classification I have purposely omitted the catfish, bull- 

 head, sturgeon, sucker, dogfish, etc., as they do not properly come 

 under the head of game fishes. In the arrangement of the families, 

 genera and species, I have endeavored to follow the nomenclature of 

 l J i oih. Theo. Gill and D. S. Jordan, while the vernacular is that com- 

 mon to the State. Oconomowoc. 



Arrivals at Philadelphia Zoological Garden during week end- 

 ing Tuesday, Aug. 28, 1877.— One green snake (Cyclopias venudis), pre- 

 sented; one night heron (yyctiardea gardeni), presetntid ; one meadow 

 lark (Htuniella magna), presented ; two gray African parrots (Priltacu* 

 er?/t7ia<;tt^) purchased. Arthur E. Brown. Gen'l. Supt. 



SOMETHING ABOUT INSECTS. 



TO the naturalist— or to any person who has a taste for the 

 pursuits of a naturalist, there is, perhaps, no subject 

 which presents such fascinating features, nor such inexhausti- 

 ble resources for entertainment and close study as entomology. 

 The meanest insect possesses claims to consideration which only 

 require to be understood to be universally acknowledged. The 

 metamorphosis of the grub into the chrysalis, in the strict sense 

 Of the term, or the quiescent chrysalisinto the active, beautiful, 

 brilliant butterfly, while it no longer possesses a claim to the 

 supernatural, has by no means lost its legitimate character 

 of the wonderful. 



Many persons have, at some time or other, kept silk worms, 

 and are consequently pretty well acquainted with thechanges 

 they undergo in their progress from the egg to the perfect 



winged condition. To those who have not had this opportu- 

 nity of practically giving a knowledge of the economy of the 

 butterfly tribe, the following passages extracted from the writ- 

 ings of Kirby and Spence on this interesting subject will in a 

 great measure supply this information. " That butterfly which 

 amuses you with its aerial excursions; now extracting nectar 

 from the tube of the honeysuckle, then, the very image of 

 fickleness, Hying to a rose as if to contrast the hue of its wings 

 with that of the flower on -which it reposes, did not come into 

 the world as you now behold it. At its first exclusion from the 

 egg, and for some months of its existence afterward, it was a 

 worm-] ike caterpillar crawling upon sixteen short legs, greedily 

 devouring leaves with two jaws, and seeing by means of 

 twelve eyes, so minute as to be nearly imperceptible without 

 the aid of a microscope. You now viewit furnished with wings 

 capable of rapid and extensive flights ; of its sixteen feet ten 

 have disappeared, and the remaining six are in most respects 

 wholly unlike those which they have succeeded. Its jaws 

 have vanished, and are replaced by a curled-up proboscis 

 suited only for sipping liquid sweets. The form of its head is 

 entirely changed, two long horns project from its upper sur- 

 face, and instead of twelve invisible eyes you behold two, 

 very large and comprised of at least 20,000 convex lenses, each 

 supposed to be a distinct and effective eye. Were you to push 

 your examination further, and by dissection to compare the 

 internal conformation of the caterpillar with that of the but- 

 terfly, you would witness changes even more extraordinary. 

 In the former you would find some thousands of muscles, 

 which in the latter are replaced by others of af orm and structure 

 entirely different. Nearly the whole body of the caterpillar 

 is occupied by a capacious stomach. In the butterfly this has 

 become converted into an almost imperceptible thread-like 

 viscus ; and the abdomen is now filled by two large packets 

 of eggs or other organs not visible in the first state. In the 

 former two spirally convoluted tubes were filled with a silky 

 gum; in the latter both tubes and silk have almost totally van- 

 ished ; and changes equally great liave taken place in the 

 economy and structure of the nerves and other organs. 



What a surprising transformation ! Nor was this all. The 

 change from one form to the other was not direct. An- 

 intermediate state not less singular intervened. After 

 casting its skin, even to its very jaws, several times, 

 and attaining its full growth, the caterpillar attaches 

 itself to a leaf by a silken girth. Its body greatly con- 

 tracted, its skin once more split asunder and disclosed an ovi- 

 form mass without exterior mouth, eyes or limbs, and ex- 

 hibiting no other symptoms of life than a slight motion when 

 touched. In this state of death-like stupor, and without tast- 

 ing food, the insect existed for several months, until at length 

 the tomb burst, and out of a case not more than an inch long 

 and a quarter of an inch in diameter, proceeded the butterfly 

 before you, which covers a surface nearly four inches square." 



Witnessing, as they doubtless did, these extraordinary 

 changes, without being able to account for them physiologi- 

 cally, it is quite possible, as Kirby has suggested, that "some 

 of the wonderful tales of the ancients were grafted on the 

 changes Which they observed to take place in insects." The 

 story of the phoenix, for example, in many of its particulars, 

 closely resembles various occurrences in the metamorphosis of 

 insects. 



At first a worm, emerging from the ashes of its parents' fu- 

 meral pile, and eventually a glorious winged creature, provid- 

 ing, in the means of its own destruction, the nidus of its future 

 and unseen progeny, the fabled phoenix might assuredly have 

 acquired its type from the actual butterfly without any grea- 

 stretch of the imagination. Then again, the doctrine of met 

 tempsychosis, or transmigration of souls, would, to the minds 

 of the early observers, be shadowed forth in the apparent ree 

 vivification of the seemingly dead chrysalis. But the doctrin- 

 al' a future life, more glorious than that of transmigration, also 

 derived support and countenance from the remarkable vicissi- 

 tudes of insect life. In the words of Newman— 



"What can be more wonderful than the fact that an un- 

 sightly worm should pass through a shrouded and death-like 

 sleep, and should wake, at last, a glorious butterfly, to bask in 

 sunshine, float on the impalpable atmosphere and quaff the 

 luscious nectar of beautuous flowers ! Well might such a 

 miracle be made a poet's theme ! Well might those philoso- 

 phers, on whose mind there dawned, albeit dimly, the great 

 truth of an after life— well might they imagine their toilsome 

 existence , typified in the caterpillar, their descent to the 

 grave in the tomb-like repose of the chrysalis, and the hereafter 

 they sighed for in the spirit-like resurrection of the happy but- 

 terfly ; and, seizing with avidity the idea, well might they 

 designate these aerial creatures by the name of souls."* 



Observation and research have shown the true nature of in- 

 sect metamorphosis ; it is now established beyond a doubt 

 that the wings and legs and other part of the butterfly pre- 

 exist in the chrysalis, and even in the caterpillar. These facts 

 have been ascertained by immersing the chrysalis and cater-. 

 pillar in hot water, and dissecting them when a greater degree 

 of solidity has thus bepn given to the various parts. This is 

 still more minutely explained by Kirby and Spence in the fol- 

 lowing paragraphs .• 



"A caterpillar is not, iu fact, a simple, but a compound ani- 

 mal, containing within it the germ of the future butterfly in 

 Closed in what will be the case of the pupa, which is itself in- 

 cluded in three or more skins, one over the other, that will 

 successively cover the larva. As this increases in size, these 

 parts expand, present themselves, and are in time thrown off, 

 until at length the perfect insect which hies been concealed in 

 this succession of masks is displayed iu its genuine form. 



"That this is the proper explanation of the phenomenon 



has been satisfactorily proved by Swammerdam, Malpigbj, 

 ami other anatomists. The first mentioned illustrious natur- 

 alist descerned by accurate dissections not only the skins of 

 the larva, and of the pupa incased in each other, but within 

 them they very butterfly itself, with its organs, indeed, in an 

 almost fluid state, but still perfect in all its parts. 



"Of this fact you may convince yourself without Swammcr- 

 dam's skill, by plunging into vinegar or spirits of wine 

 terpillar about to assume the pupa state, and letting it remain 

 there a few days for the purpose of giving consistency to its 

 parts ; or by boiling it in water a few minutes. A very rough 

 dissection will then enable you to detect the future butterfly- 

 aud you will find that the wings, rolled up in a sort of cord! 

 are lodged between the first and second segment of the cater- 

 pillar, and that the legs, however different their form, are 

 actually sheathed in its legs. Malpighi discovered the eggs 

 of the future moth in the chrysalis of the silk worm only a 

 few days old, and Reaumur those of another moth (itypogymna 

 disptir) even in the caterpillar, and that seven or eight days 

 before its change into the pupa. A caterpillar then may be 

 regarded as a locomotive egg, having for its embryo the in- 

 cluded butterfly, which, after a certain period, assimilates to 

 itself the animal substances by which it is surrounded; has its 

 organs gradually developed, and at length breaks through 

 the shell which incloses it." 



That author also adds : "This explanation strips the sub- 

 ject of everything miraculous, yet by no means reduces it to a 

 simple or uninteresting operation. Our reason is confounded 

 at the reflection that a larva, at first not thicker than a thread, 

 includes its own triple, or sometimes octuple teguments ; ihe 

 case of a chrysalis, and a butterfly, all curiously folded into 

 each other; with an apparatus of vessels for breathing and 

 digesting, of nerves for sensation, aud of muscles for moving; 

 and that these various forms of existence will undergo their 

 successive evolutions by aid of a few leaves received into its 

 stomach. And still less able are we to comprehend how this 

 organ should at one time be capable of digesting leaves, at an- 

 other only honey ; how one while a silky fluid should be se- 

 creted, at another none ; or how organs at one period essenl ial 

 to the existence of the insect, should at another be cast off, 

 andlhe whole system that supported them vanish." 



Ketjka. 



Moi:k aiiout Shabks.— The interesting article in your paper 

 of Aug. 16, upon sharks, repeats the common statement that 

 the sharks are obliged to turn upon then backs to seize their 

 prey. Did he or any other person ever see them do this, or is 

 it the mere repetition of a common error ? I have seen in my 

 time thousands of these fishes, and have caught many of them 

 with hook and line, but have never, that 1 can remember, seen 

 them perform this revolution. Moreover, on putting the ques- 

 tion to an old fisherman on the Florida coast, who made a 

 business of catching sharks for their oil, his reply was that 

 they seized their prey like any other fish. 



I have no doubt that the sharks are vivaparous, having 

 frequently seen the young ones taken from the dead parent, 

 ten or twelve inches in length, when on being released, they 

 swam away, apparently we'll able to take care of themselves. 

 Usually, I think, about ten or fifteen in number. 



As to the voracity of the sharks, and their desire for human 

 flesh, I think the different species vary, and perhaps the Same 

 species may vary in their habits in different localities. On ile 

 coast of Florida where the sharks are very large and numeroi is 

 I have not heard of a well, authenticated instance of a man 

 destroyed or attacked by them, while there arc many such re- 

 corded in the West Indian Seas. Even the most ferocious and 

 destructive animals seem to have a dread of mankind, whom 

 they only attack under exceptional circumstances, and then 

 finding them an easy prey they continue their depredations. 

 This is the case with the lion and the tiger, and may be also 

 with the shark. g, q. C. 



[We have frequently seen sharks turn slightly upon the side 

 to seize their food, but the idea that they turn upon their Sacks. 

 is simply nonsense. — Ed.] 



» <». 



What Becomes of ihe Dead Elephants? — An experi- 

 enced elephant-hunter writes as follows : I should like some 

 naturalist to explain to me why it is that a hunter is nevi r 

 able to find a dead elephant. Of course after you bring him 

 down he is there before you ; hut show me a man who has 

 ever found the skeleton of an elephant in those vast Cingalese 

 forests, or has come upon the carcass of one that has died a 

 natural death? For ten years I have hunted unremittingly, 

 tramping over hundreds of miles, in all sorts of solitudes, 'and 

 never succeeded in discovering such a curiosity. 



Sir Emerson Tennett tells us of a gentleman who lived for 

 thirty-six years in the jungle, exploring valleys and tracing 

 roads.during his trigonometrical pursuits, who never once cam;; 

 upon the skeleton or decaying body of an elephant that had 

 died a natural death. 



The Cingalese believe that there is some mysterious valley 

 into which these animals hasten when they feel the approach 

 of death, and thus the island contains a vast mausoleum. 

 wherein are entombed all the giants of the forest that have 

 gone on before. 



There might be some reason to believe this fanciful theory 

 if this cemetery was ever discovered,but its precise location is 

 still unknown, and the conundrum as to what becomes of all 

 the dead elephants is interesting and seemingly insoluble. 



This would lead one to believe that there was some peculi- 

 arity in the Cingalese climate that dissolved or decomposed 

 the bones. Such might be the fact were it not for the grinders 

 and tusks. There is no climate on the face of the earth that 

 can destroy them, and so you see, Ave are brought back to the 

 same point from which we started. 



[The same question may with propriety be asked regarding 

 many other species of Nature's kingdom. The probabilities 

 are, however, that the remains of animals are speedily made 

 away with by insects and rodents. How often we find fallen 

 antlers almost unrecognizable, owing to the ravages ofroi lejj 

 and in a tropical forest certain ants would remove even the un- 

 wieldy carcass of an elephant in less than twelve hours.— Ed.] 



The Ruffed Geo use— A Qtjebv.— Some years ago I was 

 walking with a friend iu a pasture adjoining a woodland. 

 The earth was soft from recent rains ami we had no difficulty 

 in approaching within fen yards of a female grouse with her 

 young. Our astonishment was great when she flew off with 

 her young brood hanging to her feathers with their 

 bills ; the little ones were arranged symmetrical] 

 each side of the mother under her wings. The pas 



f The Greek word signifies both soul ana butterjly. 



