JWltUbT AJNLJ 15TK-EAM. 



320 



SALMON IN PENNSYLVANIA RIVERS. 



We hasten to offer our congratulations to the Pish Commis- 

 sioners and people of Pennsylvania, the first for their crown- 

 ing success, and the second for their great acquisition. The 

 story of the first Pennsylvania salmon, which we recorded 

 last week, is fully told in the following article from the Eas- 

 ton Empress of November 23 : 



Salmo Sajlae— The Pish Caught in the Bushkill Yes- 

 terday—Its Soirntifio Importance— Abtwioial Stocking 

 of gTEEAMa no Longer an Experiment. —The killing of the 

 large fish in the Bushkill, a full account of which appeared in 

 the Express of yesterday, is of the greatest scientific signifi- 

 cance, because it gives the assurance of success to the stocking 

 of the streams of this and other Stales, an experiment which 

 has been attracting the attention of modern pisciculturists and 

 because it demonstrates the practicability of rendering the 

 Balmon— the king of all game fishes— a habitat of the waters 

 of our latitude. The Bushkill has been made the depository 

 of a large number of salmon for some years past. The first 

 lot of fish introduced into this stream was placed there abo.it 

 eight years ago by private enterprise. They were the salmo 

 salar, or the salmon of the North. The first attempt in the 

 same direction made by the State Pish Commissioners was in 

 1873. These also were the salmo salar. 



Since 1873 there have been large numbers of either the 

 salmo salar or the salmo qnlnnai (California salmon), planted 

 each year in the Bushkill. The salmo salar never having been 

 heard of since their introduction, and as they require water of 

 a very low temperature, and as it is extremely problematical 

 whetuer they have ever inhabited our waters, the failure of 

 the attempt to stock our waters had come to be J^garded as a 

 failure. 



The capture of this fish, however, has crowned their labors 

 with all the success that had ever been hoped for, and will 

 stimulate -the -Pish Commissioners of this and neighboring 

 Siates to renewed efforts. Their zeal has been untiring and 

 their reward most satisfactory. 



The salmon was last evening carefully examined by a num- 

 ber of gentlemen who take great interest in the scientific clas- 

 sification of fish, and was unanimously pronounced by them a 

 female salmo salar, probably of the hatching of 1873, 



The fine fish the Easton Free Press says was taken in Gro- 

 etzinger's mill race on the Bushkill, at the foot of Pourth street. 

 It was on exhibition at the office of that journal, preserved in 

 a refrigerator, and was finally sent to the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion for preservation. One thing remarkable to be borne in 

 mind is that the Hudson River has hitherto been the southern 

 limit of the range of Salmo salar, and it is not fully authenti- 

 cated that it has ever populated the Hudson. 



The fish may bo described as follows ; Weight, 9 pounds ; 

 length of head, 6^ iuches ; total lenth, 33 inches ; Caudal, 

 when expanded, 9 inches ; girth in front of Dorsal fin, 15 in 

 chea. 



Shape, ellipse considerably elongated, the greatest depth 

 being in front of Dorsal fin. 



Shape of Caudal almost straight, being very slightly lunate. 



Color— Back greenish-blue, marked above the lateral iine 

 by irregular X shaped dark spots, from an inch to inch and 

 a half apart. There are also two or three marks on the 

 Opercle. Sides, silver gray; belly, white. 



Teeth— Incurved. Upon the mamillaries, intermaxillaries, 

 palatines, and tongue,|with two or three more upon the vomer; 

 bronichal rays, 12 iu number. 



Number of fin rays j Pectoral, 13 inches ; ventral, 9 inches; 

 anal, 9 inches; dorsal, 12 inches; caudal, 18 inches, exclusive 

 of rudimentary rays ; second dorsal, adipose, this being an 

 unmistakable characteristic of the salmonidw family ; gill cov- 

 ers with rounded edges ; scales small. 



The fish, which was apparently ripe for spawning, contain- 

 ed a large quantity of eggs; deep orange in color, and a little 

 over two lines or one-fifth of men in diameter. 



The color of the fins was quite dark, showing that the fish 

 had been for a considerable time in fresh water. This view 

 is corroborated by the emaciated condition of the salmon 

 and tfce deep color of its back. 



It is reasonably certain from all the indications that the 

 fish left the sea in June or July, at which time she weighed 

 not less than thirteen pounds, and was with ber male com- 

 panion in the act of preparing bed wnen discovered and cap- 

 tured. 



While the entire community may be congratulated upon the 

 taking of this fish, becaus- of its scientific testimony, and the 

 encouragement it gives to a good work, it is at the same time 

 proper that attention should be called to the law which pro- 

 hibits the taking of salmon between August 15, and April 1, 

 and Imposes a penalty of $10 upon all violations of the same. 

 — ' •—-«♦» -• ■ 



American Ova Wanted in Exchange for Prussian.— 

 We are much pleased to further the very commendable ob- 

 ject set forth in the following letter from Mr. Mather, who is 

 now in Prussia s 

 Editor Forest ahd Stream. Bbbmn, Nov, 7, 1877. 



Mr. Carl Schuster, ot Friebnrg, wishes to exchange ova with Ameri- 

 can hah cultuUsts, and has to offer those of the common trout of Eu- 

 rope (salmo faro), the ealmon (Rhine), S, salar, the wbituuah of Lake 

 Constance (coregonus /era) and the " oharr" or salbling (salmo salve- 

 Uhuh). 



The latter ush is well known In England as " charr," and is somewhat 

 like our own brook trout, but higher colored ; in fact, it is the English 

 standard of redness, as they often say, "as red as a charr," 



Prof. PetcrB callB it the flueBC salmon for the table in Europe, and 

 Bome of our fish cult.nrists will do well to ship Mr. Schuster some 

 trout eggs, which he wishes, and get this tine fish in return. He is an 

 honorable gentleman and an enthusiastic flsn culturist, who has done 

 much for German fish culture. 



I have seen hiB place, and consider it very perfect. He has had many 

 of the " Holtoii" boxes made to hatoli the eoregonus of Lake Constance 

 this winter. Address packages or letter to ©berburgomeister, Carl 

 Schuster, Frieburg, Bresgau. 



1 think that the Americans need only to see the charr to appre- 

 ciate it. 



I have mislaid Mr. Schuster's price list, but will find it on unpacking 

 and will publish it. 



Fred Matheb, 



—In our answer to Dr. E. S., Cleveland, as to first descrip- 

 tion of Michigan grayling, we should have said Joel C. Parker, 

 (not John) Dentist, Grand Rapids, Mich. It was not a pub- 

 lished- description, but an identification sent to Prof, Theo. 



GEOLOGICAL STUDIES IN THE TERRI- 

 TORIES. 



WE are in receipt of the following most interesting data, 

 Which have been furnished us by Mr. J. V. Hay den 

 iu advance of his coming publication : 



Prof. Joseph Leidy, the eminent comparative anatomist and 

 microscopist, made hi.? second visit to the West the past sea- 

 son under the auspices of the survey. He made a careful ex- 

 ploration of the country about Port Bridtrer, Vintah Moun- 

 tains and the Salt Lake basin in search of rhizopods. He has 

 been engaged for a long time on a memoir on this subject 

 which will eventually form one of the series of the quartos of 

 the Survey. 



The rhizopods are the lowest and simplest forms of animals, 

 mostly minute, and requiring high power of the microscope 

 to distinguish their structure. While most of them construct 

 shells of great beauty and variety, their soft part consists of 

 a jelly-like substance. This the animal has the power of ex- 

 tending in threads or finger-like processes, which are used as 

 organs of commotion and prehension, often branching. From 

 the appearance of their temporary organs, resembling roots, 

 the class of animals has received its name of rhizopodi, mean- 

 ing literally root-footed. In compensation of the smallness of 

 these creatures, they make up in Dumbers, and it is question- 

 able whether any other class of animals exceed them in im- 

 portance in the economy of nature. Geological evidence 

 shows that they were the starting point of animal life in time, 

 and their agency in rock-making has not been exceeded by 

 later, higher and more visible forms. With the marine kind, 

 known as foraminifera, we have been longest familiar. The 

 beautiful, many-chambered shells of these— for the most part 

 just visible to the naked eye— form a large portion of the 

 ocean mud and the sands of the ocean shore. Shell of fora- 

 minifera likewise form the basis of miles of strata of limestone, 

 such as the chalk of England and the limestones of which 

 Paris and the pyramids of Egypt are built. Fresh water 

 rhizopods, though not so abundant as marine forms, are never- 

 theless very numerous. They mainly inhabit our lakes, ponds 

 and standing waters, but they also swarm in sphagnous 

 swamps, and ever live in newest earth. Professor Leidy has 

 devoted several years of study to the fresh water rhizopods of 

 the Eastern portion of our country, and his especial object in 

 the past expedition was to investigate those which are to be 

 found in the elevated regions of the Rocky Mountains. 



The botany of the Survey was represented the past season 

 by the two great masters of that department, Sir Joseph D. 

 Hooker, Director of the Gardens of Kew, England, and Presi- 

 dent of the Royal Society of London, and Prof. Asa Gray, of 

 Cambridge, Mass. Their examinations extended over a great 

 portion of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. 

 Their investigation into the alpine floras and tree vegetation of 

 the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevadas enabled them to 

 give a clear idea of the relations and influence of the climatic 

 conditions on both sides of the great mountain ranges. Sir 

 Joseph Hooker, whose botanical researches embrace the 

 greater part of Europe ; the Indies, from the Bay of Bengal 

 across the Himalayas to Thibet; the Antarctic regions and 

 the southern part of South America ; New Zealand, Australia, 

 South Africa, Morocco and Asia Minor, presents in the English 

 periodical, Nature, for October 25, an outline of his studies 

 during the season, and this outline when filled out will form a 

 most important report for the Eleventh Annual report of the 

 Survey. It will be seen at a glance that the report will be of 

 the most comprehensive character and cannot fail to be of the 

 highest interest to our people. The tri e vegetation, and es- 

 pecially the conifeito, were made especial objects of study, 

 and many obscure points were cleared up. 



Of a section of the Rocky Mountains comprising Colorado, 

 Wyoming and Utah, Dr. Hooker says: "Such a section of 

 tho llocky Mountains must hence contain representatives of 

 three very distinct American floras, each characteristic of im- 

 mense areas of the continent. There are two temperate and 

 two cold or mountain floras, viz.: (1) a prairie flora derived 

 from the eastward ; (2) a so-called desert and saline flora de- 

 rived from the west ; (3) a sub alpine ; and (4) an alpine flora; 

 the two latter of widely different origin, and in one sense 

 proper to the Rocky Mountain ranges. " 



The principal American regions with which the comparison 

 will have first to be instituted are four. Two of these are in 

 a broad sense humid ; one, that of the Atlantic Coast and 

 which extends thence west to the Mississippi River, including 

 the forested shores of that river's western affluents ; the other 

 that of the Pacific side from the Sierra Nevada to the western 

 ocean, and two inland, that of the northern part of the conti- 

 nent extending to the Polar regions and that of the southern 

 part extending through New Mexico to the Cordillera of 

 Mexico proper. 



The first and second (Atlantic plus Mississippi and the 

 Pacific) regions are traversed by meridional chains of moun- 

 tains approximately parallel to the Rocky Mountains j name- 

 ly, on the Atlantic side by the various systems often included 

 under the general term Appalachian, which extend from 

 Maine to Georgia ; and on the Pacific side by the Sierra Nevada, 

 which bounds California on the east. The third and fourth 

 of the regions present a continuation of the Rocky Mountains 

 of Colorado and Utah, flanked for a certain distance by an 

 eastern prairie flora extending from the British possessions to 

 Texas, and a western desert or saline flora, extending from the 

 snake river to Arizona and Mexico. Thus the Colorado and 

 Utah floras might be expected to contain representatives of all 

 the various vegetations of North America except the small 

 tropical region of Florida, which is confined to the extreme 

 southeast of the continent. 



The most singular botanical feature of North America is 

 unquestionably the marked contrast between its two humid 

 floras, namely, those of the Atlantic plus Mississippi, and the 

 Pacific one. This has been.ably illustrated and discussed by 

 Dr. Gray in various communications to the American Academy 

 of Sciences and elsewhere, and he has further largely traced 

 the peculiarities of each to their source, thus laying the foun- 

 dations for all future researches into the botanical geography 

 of North America ; but the relations of the dry intermediate 

 regions, either to these or to the floras of other countries, had 

 not been similarly treated, and this, we hope, we have now 

 materials for discussing. 



Dr. Hooker sums up the results of the joint investigations 

 of Dr. Gray and himself— aided by Dr. Gray's previously in- 

 timate knowledge of the elements of the American flora — from 

 the Mississippi to the Pacific Coast, " that tha vegetation of 



the middle latitudes of the continent resolves itself into three 

 principal meridional floras, incomparably more diverse than 

 those presented by any similar meridians in the old world, 

 being, in fact, as far as the trees, shrubs, and many genera of 

 herbaceous plants are concerned, absolutely distinct. These 

 are the two humid and the dry intermediate regions above in- 

 dicated. 



"Each of these, again, is sub-divisible into three, as follows : 



"1. The Atlantic slope, plus Mississippi region, sub divisible 

 into (a) an Atlantic, (B) a Mississippi Valley, and (7) an in- 

 terposed mountain region, with a temperate and sub-alpine 

 flora. 



"2. The Pacific Slope, sub-divisible into (a) a very humid, 

 cool, forest-clad coast range, (B) the great, hot, drier Cali- 

 fornia Valley, formed by the San Juan River flowing to the 

 north and the Sacramento River flowing to the south, both in- 

 to the Bay of San Francisco, and (V) the Sierra Nevada 

 flora, temperate) sub-alpine and alpine. 



"3. The Rocky Mountain region (in its wildest sense ex- 

 tending from the Mississippi, beyond its forest region, to the 

 Sierra Nevada), sub-divisible into (a) a prairie flora, (B) a 

 desert or saline flora, ( V) a Rocky Mountain proper flora, 

 temperate, sub-alpine and alpine. 



"As above stated, the difference between the floras of the 

 first and second of these regions is specifically, and, to a great 

 extent, generically absolute ; not a pine or oak, maple, elm, 

 plane or birch of Eastern America extends to Western, and 

 genera of thirty to fifty species are confined to each. The 

 Rocky Mountain region, again, though abundantly distinct 

 from both, has a few elements of the eastern region, and still 

 more of the western. 



'• Many interesting facts connected with the origin and dis- 

 tribution of American plants, and the introduction of various 

 types into the three regions, presented themselves to our ob- 

 servation or our minds during our wanderings. Many of 

 these are suggestive of comparative study with the admira <le 

 results of Hcer's and Lesquercen's investigations into- the plio- 

 cene and miocene plants of the nonh temperate and frigid 

 zones, and which had already engaged Dr. Gray's attention, 

 as may be found in his various publications. No less inter- 

 esting are the traces of the influence of a glacial and a warmer 

 period in directing the course of migration of Arctic forms 

 southward, and Mexican forms northward in the continent, 

 and of the effects of the great body of water that occupied the 

 whole saline region during (as it would appear) a glacial 

 period. 



" Lastly, curious information was obtained respecting the 

 ages of not only the big trees of California, but of equally 

 aged pines and junipers, which are proofs of that duration of 

 existing conditons of climate for which evidence has hitherto 

 been sought rather among fossil thanamong living organisms." 

 Messrs. S. H. Scudder, of Cambridge, and F. 0. Bowditch, 

 of Boston, spent two months in Colorado, Wyoming and 

 Utah, in explorations for fossil insects, and in collecting re 

 cent Coleoptera and Orthoptera, especially in the higher re- 

 gions. They made large collections of recent insects at differ- 

 ent points along the railways from Pueblo to Cheyenne, and 

 from Cheyenne to Salt Lake, as well as at Lakin, ltans.; Gar- 

 land and Georgetown, Colorado, and in various parts of the 

 South Park and surrounding regions. For want of time they , 

 were ooliged to forego an anticipated trip to White River to 

 explore the beds of fossil insects known to exist there; Ten 

 days were spent at Green River and vicinity in examining the 

 tertiary strata for fossil insects, with but poor results. Ten 

 tertiary beds of the South Park yielded but a single deter- 

 minable insect, but near Florissant, the tertiary basin, de- 

 scribed by Mr. Peale in one of the annual repot ts of the sur- 

 vey, was found to be exceedingly rich in insects and plants. 

 In company with Rev. Mr. Lakes, of Golden, Mr. Scudder 

 spent several days in a careful survey of this basin, and esti- 

 mates the insect bearing shales to have an extent at least fifty 

 times as great as tho»e of the famous locality at (Eningen, in 

 southern Bavaria. From six to seven thousand insects, and 

 two or three thousand plants, have already been received from 

 Florissant, and as many more will be received before the 

 close of the year. Mr. Scudder was also able to make 

 arrangements in person with parties who have found a new 

 and very interesting locality of tertiary strata in Wyoming, 

 to send him all the specimens they work out, and he confi- 

 dently anticipates receiving several thousand insects from 

 them in the course of the coming winter. The specimens 

 from this locality are remarkable for their beauty. There is, 

 therefore, every reason to believe that the tertiary strata of 

 the Rocky Mountain region are richer in remains of fossil in- 

 sects than any other country in the world, and that within a 

 few months the material at hand for the elaboration of the 

 work on fossil insects, which Mr. Scudder has in preparation 

 for the Survey, will be much larger than was ever before sub- 

 ject to the investigation of a single naturalist. 



GROWTH OF TROUT. 



# 



Oaklaxd, Bebgen Co. , N. J., Nov. 11, 



Friend Hallock^ Having been interested very much in 

 the experience of several parties which has appeared in the 

 columns of the Forest and Stbeaji in regard to the growth 

 of trout, I beg leave to offer a few lines of what I know 

 about trout raising. 



There is a great difference in the growth of trout in differ- 

 ent streams, owing, no doubt, to the kind and quality of food 

 as well as quantity. All fish culturists are aware that trout 

 of the same age bred in same waters from the same parents 

 are not all of the ea'me size, even at six weeks old or one 

 month after they begin to feed, although their chances were 

 equal in every respect.^ I begin to sort my trout when they 

 have been feeding for a month, and I always have three sizes 

 I raise as small fish as any one,and I think as large as any one. 

 Last year I sold a lot of two thousand at nine months old that 

 would measure from four to six inches in length, every one of 

 them. I had another lot of trout that were hatched at the 

 same time from the same lot of eggs that were fine, vigorous 

 little fellows not more than an inch and a half long— fed the 

 same, had the same chance in every respect. Out of the same 

 lot of eggs I had another pond of fish that were about two 

 and a half or ibree inches long. My facilities were perhaps 

 better for experimenting than some of your, correspondents', 

 they being all right as far as their experience went, Now, I 

 wish to claim your attention a little further, and explain an- 

 other experiment. 



Two years ago I placed, within a week's time, several pairs 

 of trout in a small spring pond, and let them spawn them- 

 selves. As soon as they were done spawning, I took them 

 out ; I put pairs enough in until I thought there would be fish 

 enough for the pond and two other smaller ponds below with 

 a fall between them of eighteen inches or more without any 

 screens between them ; but at the last pond I placed a screen 



