Makch 9, 1832. | 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Ill 



son had became warmer as it approached May or June, but I 

 do not know how true it was. I remember, though it was 



only in February, March, and early April, my friends went 

 there. I always fancied, however* it was the greater growth 

 of Underbrush, etc., the later season brought forth and not the 

 snakes. 



Of late years February and March fishing at Trout Run is 

 not indulged in, as the law interferes, but I am informed to- 

 day the same streams arc full of trout, and the distance within 

 fifteen miles of Philadelphia; Such fishing I never enjoyed, 

 but it is a fact we have trout so near us. Homo, 



THE BAIT QUESTION. 



THE writer comes to you for information, from you or 

 some of your well-informed correspondents, on "fisk- 

 ology." To state the case briefly, we have near us a river 

 which abounds in perch (so we call them; 1 think they are 

 generally known as "sun perch,") horse fish, white bass, cat- 

 fish, etc., etc. 



The great trouble with us is bait. We use, when we can 

 pet (Jiein, the tail part of large crawfish which, skinned or 

 peeler! , makes a very white nice bait; they are scarce, how- 

 ever, and hard to get. The common earth worm is plentiful 

 enough, but is a poor bail, the fish seeming not to care much 

 for it. 



The stream has a current of two and a half or three miles 

 per hour, too much to lish with a cork or float, and what the 

 writer wants to hear is— what is the best bait to use, and 

 whether to fish at the top of water without any sinker, or to 

 fish near the bottom with a sinker and worms, 'or some other 

 bait. We have no experience with this, have no trout in this 

 part .J the State, and we use about the same old style of bait 

 and tackle that was in use by our fathers and grandfathers. 



Can "flies," "lady-hugs/' grasshoppers, frogs, and rubber 

 crawfish lie used to advantage iu our river? Of course I mean 

 such baits as we can buy from the fishing tackle stores, and 

 not the natural insects. By answering these questions, to- 

 gether with such other information as would be useful on the 

 subject, you will confer a great favor on a subscriber who is 

 fond of fishing, but finds proper bait hard to get. 



We are "up" on guns, dogs, and quail shooting, but far 

 behind the age in the sport of the fisherman. The writer has 

 asmall carp pond, and has recently placed inii twenty young 

 carp, procured from (lie Fish Commission in Washington 

 city. He will be able to report something iu that line." In 

 tin' meantime, he would like to be informed as to what is the 

 best kind of aquatic plant to place in the pond, whether to 

 plant the seeds or bulbs and how best to get a quick growth in 

 the pond, suitable for carp. Can you tell me? 



SUBSCRIBER. 

 Goldsboro', North Carolina. 



It is very difficult to tell what will be* the best bait for fish 

 in it stream that, one has never fished, it is somewhat like 

 prescribing for a patient whom you do not know, when at a 

 distance. The best plan in such cases is actual experiment. 

 We would try minnows, fins of fish and strips from their bel- 

 lies, white grubs from the fields iu spring, and such natural 

 baits as wr could get. 



Artificial baits are good in some cases, especially when 

 kept in motion to attract the eye of the fish, hut they have no 

 odor that is attractive. 



We doubt that yourfish will rise freely to the fly. They are 

 mainly mid-water feeders,and the current seems strong enough 

 to Spin for the fish. We would advise small trolling spoons, 

 with very small hooks, and if the current is not sufficient to 

 spin them when held by the rod with twenty to forty feet of 

 line, then the Spoon can lie cast and trolled. If the spoon 

 sinks with so much line, place a light float midway, or where 

 experience proves the best. Perhaps other subscribers can 

 help this one out of his trouble. 



In the matter of carp food, the Festi/ra flmktiu is a good 

 water plant, it grows in the ponds at Washington. The con- 

 ferva called "frog spittle" is excellent. 



CHUB FISHING. 



I NOTICED in your issue of February 16 "Ches. A. 

 Peake's" answer to "P. A. B.," concerning chub fishing, 

 locality, etc., and your editorial comments on same.' I agree 

 with you that it is to be deplored that locality should so con- 

 tribute to the incongruity of the popular nomenclature of fish. 

 In some respects "Ches.' A. Peake," although evidently refer- 

 ring to bass, describes the chub, for the chub certainly means 

 business when he bites, which he is never tardy in doing on 

 any fairly favorable day for fishing, and is a spmted, if brief, 

 fighter when hooked. 



I have known them in tide water to attain a growth equal 

 to a good-sized shad. Is this too indefinite? Well, then, 

 certainly two pounds and over; but the "giants" that are 

 land-locked about one pound, as you say. I have caught 

 them in every stream T have 'fished ' that, empties into 

 the Delaware— the Ram-ocas. Pennypack, Timber, Raccoon, 

 Mantua and Brnndywiue; also the Octorara, that empties 

 into the Susquehanna. My favorite and. I think, most suc- 

 cessful time for fishing for them is from October to March, as 

 their flesh is much finer then, and they will then always bite 

 if there, and not frightened. Of course, I mean if the streams 

 are clear and free from ice. 



The bait par excellence — grub worms out of an old apple 

 slum;., light line under tdl eireumstancea and if fishing from 

 the bank of a flowing stream, a rather stiff rod— but not too 

 heavy for comfort — that will enable the fisher to lift them out 

 over 'brier bushes that frequently overhang "likely spots;'' a 

 small-sized cork Boat, that a buckshot will properly balance, 

 regulated in distance from the end of the line as the depth of 

 the stream varies. 



If fishing "every inch of ground," you should have your 

 line (linen) well waxed, so as to make it as impervious to 

 water as possible and to run through the guides freely; then 

 let -your cork float down stream, keeping it about thirty feet 

 ahead of you. Experience alone can teach you when to strike. 

 You can wax your line by either boiling it in. or rubbing 

 beeswax on. and then remove thesurplusby pulling it through 

 a rag held in the hand. In shallow water always keep at 

 least thirty feet behind your float, and when you want to fish 

 the "likely spots" with 'shortened line, approach cautiously. 

 The chub are shy about here, and, I fancy, every place else 

 When scarce. 



I said that grub worm out of an apple stump is the bait par 

 excellence; but they are as hard to get, if not more so, than 

 the fish, so I have' frequently used small blocks of dairy 

 cheese; also the inside of a baker's loaf of bread, moistened 

 and moulded by the hand on the hook. I have caught chub 

 with both of these substitutes for the grub, but have generally 

 been the most successful with them in running water, as the 



deception seems to be more readily detected in pools and quiet 

 places. 



f forgot to mention that I use a leader from one and a half 

 to three feet in length. This enables your bait, if the current 

 is not too strong, to drag behind your float just the length of 

 the leader. The part, of your line under water, from float to 

 sinker, being perpendicular, and as the bait goes down stream 

 bouncing and dragging over the stones on the bottom, it is by 

 this method made very attractive and inviting for the fish. 

 When I have my line iu proper condition — i. c.', well waxed, 

 so that it will float on the surface of the water from cork to 

 rod. I use a Vioz. split-cane rod; but 1 have always Celt 

 toward the end of a day's fishing, when the wax has worn off 

 and the line becomes water-soaked, sinking, instead of remain- 

 ing on the surface, that a stiff rod (natural cane) would be 

 more effective in striking, if not yielding so much pleasure in 

 point of comfort. I have also caught chub with a fly in early 

 spring and late fall in a small trout stream that empties into 

 the Conemaugh River, Pa. When fishing for them in the 

 Octorara Creek we call them "fall fish." Tuck. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



BLACK-FISHING ON THE SOUND. 



IN my day I have taken a good many blackfish. While 

 there are a good many gamier fish to catch than the 

 blackfish, or tautog, there's a good deal of eating on them, 

 and not bad eating either, when well cooked, and there's 

 always some sport about catching them, too; and where the 

 choice lies between trout the size of half a lead-pencil, and 

 blackfish of from one to four pounds, I'll go for blackfish 

 ever)' time. 



A favorite place of mine for getting blackfish is on Long 

 Island Sound near Darien, Conn. A bay sets iu there, and 

 back of the bay is an inclosed body of water, with flood 

 gates to open anil shut with the tide. * Our boat w 7 as stowed 

 away at the further side of this pond. In the morning early. 

 my friend Fred. Ryder and I would start in our flat-bottomed 

 scow, pull across the pond, slide the boat over the wall, and 

 after pulling down the bajr some distance, would go ashore 

 and dig clams for bail. Sometimes this was the hardest pari 

 of our day's work, for, often after digging till we thought we 

 would go through to the other side, wo found — no clams; but 

 perseverance brings success. So if we did not get them in 

 one place, we would in another. 



I well remember one day we spent there; during the fore- 

 noon the tide was not right for fishing, and we got but little; 

 about noon the tide changed, and began to run out. We 

 pulled out to the edge of the Sound, laying about 25(1 yards 

 from shore, and dropped anchor a short distance from an 

 oyster smack, on which all hands were busy with hand lines, 

 fishing. As we laid aside our oars, and picked up our rods, 

 our neighbors on the smack begun to laugh at "them city 

 fellars fishin' out here with poles. '•' "They won't catch a fish, 

 see if they do," said one. "I'll bet they won't," said another. 



We said nothing, but got to work ; finding it hard to get 

 bottom, we kept putting on more lead, until we had about a 

 pound on each of our lines, and getting the gauge of things, 

 we soon had everything lovely; for the fish seemed to be fairly 

 starving for our bait. "First Fred, would reel up one, then I 

 would get one — then they came up, two at a time, just as 

 fast as we could reel them up— all good sized fish, "regular 

 tide runners"— and it was hard work, too ; a heavy rod, with 

 a pound sinker, with the tide running lively and fish biting 

 at the line fifty to sixty feet away; but we were anxious to 

 make a good showing "to "them other fellars" in the smack, 

 and convince them that we knew how to catch fish. And we 

 did it, too. Of course they had their eyes open, and took in 

 the whole thing, but very "silently. 



Finally, they could stand it no longer, and one of them 

 shouted to us, "Say, Mister, wot's you fellars fishin' with." 

 "Clams," was the laconic answer. " "We hain't got no clams. 

 We's fishin' with winkles." 



"I suppose you've got lots of fish?" said I. "Nary a fish. 

 Have you got" any?" wastherespon.se. "Well, a few," said 

 I, and pointing to a bushel basket full to the top, "how do 

 you like the looks of them ?" ' 'My good lands ! w hat a mess, " 

 said he. And finally they came right down to business and 

 asked us to give them enough for dinner, and some clams for 

 bait. So I quietly told them that they could see for them- 

 selves that "them" city fallers" could' catch fish when they 

 set out to do it, and giving them all they wanted, we hoisted 

 our anchor and pulled for shore. J. R. Jr. 



THE EEL QUESTION. 



A paper read before the American Fishcuitural Association by Prof. 

 G. Brown Goode. 



[CONTINUED.] 

 HUNT FOB TILE MALE EEL AND ITS DISCOVERY BY SYRSKI. 



The history of the search for the female of the eel having 

 been given, for the most part, in a translation of the work of 

 Dr. Jacoby, it seems appropriate to quote the same author 

 concerning the search for the male eel, which, though much 

 shorter, is none the less interesting. 



In the dissertation of Hohnbaurn-Hornschuch, published 

 in 1842, the opinion was expressed that; certain cells found by 

 the author in the ovaries which differed from the egg cells by 

 their form and contents, should be regarded as the spermary 

 cells of the eel, and that the eel should be regarded as herma- 

 phrodite. Six years later Schluser presented an interesting 

 dissertation upon the sexes of lampreys and eels, in which lie 

 pronounced these opinions of Hohnbaurn-Hornschuch to be 

 erroneous, and expressed the opinion that the male eel must 

 be extremely rare, or that it was different, perhaps, from the 

 female. From this time up to the beginning of 1879 a male 

 eel was never seen, nor do we find any opinions expressed 

 concerning the form of the male of the eel or its reproductive 

 organs. ' ' 



According to Robins in 1840, George Louis Duveruoy 

 (Couvier Anafomie Comparec, ed. 2, 1848, tome viii, p. 117) 

 described the ruffle-tube type of the testis of the lampreys 

 and eels, with the free margin, festooned in lobules, shorter to 

 the right than to the left, like the ovaries, etc. He added: 

 "At the breeding season, we perceive in it an innumerable 

 quantity of granulations, or small spermatic capsules, the 

 rounded form of 'which has often led to I heir being eon- 

 founded with the ovaler, at least as the eels, in which) in 

 reality, these capsules are nearly of the same size as the 

 ovule's, but the latter arc distinguished by their oval form." 

 The ovular are spherical, and not oval; but the other facts 

 are fundamentally correct. It is also in error that Duvemoy 



1 1 Jacob; status that in a paper by Rathke, published in the Arcliiv 



fur Xaturi/psrhirlitK in 1S3S, lie remarked, 'i ■ ... lie able to 



"sav something coaooniijDg the male organs of the eel.' 1 



it would be very interesting to know whether in the papers left hv 

 this skillful investigator there may not have bean recorded some 

 valuable observations concerning the male eel. 



adds (p. 133): "The eels and the lampreys have no deferent 

 canal, any more than an oviduct. Like the ova the semen 

 ruptures the capsuler in which it has collected and diffuses 

 itself in the abdominal cavity, whence it is expelled in the 

 same way as in the ova." But he correctly describes the 

 place of opening of the penbucal canal, "the waters, etc. 

 Robin, Comptes Rendus, 1881, p. 383. 



By some droll coincidence the University of Bologna, and, 

 soon after, that, of Pavia, were again prominent participants 

 in the eel tournament. At the meeting of the Bologna 

 Academy, December 28th, 1871, Prof. G."B. Ercolani read a 

 paper upon the perfect hermaphroditism in the eel. 



Fourteen days later Prof. Balsamo Crivelli and L. Maggi 

 read a. detailed and elaborate paper upon the "true organs of 

 generation in eels." These investigators, without concerted 

 action, had all at once brought up the celebrated issue of the 

 previous century; this time, however, having specially in 

 view the male organs of the eel, while all were convinced 

 that, they had reached a final result by their investigations. 

 The results were certainly very peculiar. In the paper of 

 Ercolani it was claimed that the snake-like folds of fat, 

 which had formerly been noticed near the ovarium, were 

 nothing else than the spermaries of the eel, and that upon 

 the left side, of the animal this organ developed into a true 

 testicle, while the one upon the right side shrank up and 

 became functionless. In the work of Crivelli and Maggi, on 

 the other hand, the folds of fat next, to the ovary were, also 

 considered to be the male organs of the eel, while the one on 

 the right-hand side of the animal -was considered without any 

 doubt to be the male reproductive organ. The last named 

 authorities described the spermatozoa which they had seen in 

 this stripe of fat upon the right side. Since these strips' of 

 fat were universally found in all eels, and always in connec- 

 tion with the former, the investigators could come to no 

 other conclusion than that the eels were complete hermaphro- 

 dites. 



The male organ of the eel, as described by Ercolani, as 

 also by Crivelli and Maggi, shows how carefully investiga- 

 tions may be expended" upon things which are not in the 

 least equivocal, since there was not the slightest, trace of 

 structure like that of a spermary. The cells of this body in 

 the lining of the stomach next to the ovary are simply fat 

 .cells, with all the characteristic peculiarities, "just as they arc 

 given in all the manuals of histiology. Prof. Rauber, of 

 Leip3ic, has examined these fat cells carefully, and they have 

 also been investigated in many eels by the writer, Dr. Jacoby. 

 Never has anything but fat cells and' blood vessels been found 

 in them. The so-called spermatozoa, described in the work 

 of Maggi and Crivelli, proved to be microscopic fat particles 

 or crystalline bodies, such as are commonly found in fat 

 cells. 12 



In the meantime, at Trieste, the question concerning the 

 male organs of the eel was making a very important advance. 

 Darwin had already expressed the opinion that among nearly 

 all fishes the female w r as larger than the male. He states that 

 Dr. Gunther has assured him that there was not a single in- 

 stance among fishes in which the male was naturally larger 

 than the female. This opinion may, perhaps, have induced 

 Dr. ffyrski, director of the Museum of Natural History at 

 Trieste, now professor iu the University of Lemberg, when he 

 undertook, at the request of the marine officials of Trieste, the 

 determination of the spawning time of the fish which were 

 caught in that region, and was obliged to take up the eel 

 question, to devote his attention especially to the smaller eels. 

 Dr. Hermes, in behalf of Dr. Syrski, protests against this 

 idea, stating, on authority of the latter, that the published 

 opinions of Giinther and Darwin were unknown to him prior 

 to the publication of Jacoby's paper. Up to that time every 

 investigator had chosen for investigation the largest and fat- 

 test eels, thinking that the largest and oldest specimens must 

 have the most highly developed organs of generation. On 

 Nov. 29, 1873, Syrski found in the second speciman which 

 he investigated — an individual fifteen inches long, which is 

 now preserved in the museum at Trieste — a completely new 

 organ Which had never before been seen within the eel by 

 any former investigator, although tens of thousands of eels 

 had been zealously studied. ' J Syrski published his discovery 

 in the April number of the proceedings of the Imperial 

 Academy of Sciences, Vienna, in 1874. The most important 

 point of the discovery was stated to be that in all the speci- 

 mens of eels in which the Syrskian organ was found, the 

 well-known collar-and-cuff shaped ovaiy, the female organ of 

 generation, was entirely wanting. It was evident from this 

 that eels were not hermaphrodites. The question now arose, 

 is the newly discovered organ in the eel, in its external form 

 as well as inner structure, so different from the ovary that it 

 coidd be considered as a partially developed or peculiarly 

 shrunken ovary? According to all" researches which have up 

 to this time been made, there is the highest kind of probability 

 that this newly discovered structure is actually 'the long 

 sought male organ of generation. The investigator cannot, 

 however, answer this question with complete certainty, since 

 the thing which is most necessary to the solution of this ques- 

 tion — namely, the finding and the recognition of the sperma- 

 tozoa — has not yet been accomplished. 



In February, 1879, Professor Packard announced the dis- 

 covery of spermatozoa in eels from Wood's Holl, Mass., but 

 soon after declared that this was a mistake, and that he had been 

 deceived by molecular movements among the yolk nuclei in 

 the female organs. The discovery of spermatozoa in the 

 spermaries of the conger-eel, recently announced by Dr. 

 Hermes, of Berlin, is, however, sufficient to demonstrate 

 fully the correctness of Syrski's theory. The confirmation 

 in the case of the common' eel is solely a matter of time. 



how to nisTrxcrrsTT male and female eels. 



INTEBNAC CHARACTICUISTICS — BENECKE AND SYRSKI. 



The difference between the organs of sex in the eel are well 

 described by Benecke. The ovaries of the eel are. tw r o yel- 

 lowish or reddish-white elongated organs as broad as one's 

 finger, situated alongside of the backbone, arranged in num- 

 erous transverse folds, extending through the entire length of 

 the abdominal cavity. They have no special opening to the 

 outside of the* body, and their contents must be discharged 



Vi In a microscopic investigation of fatty tissues it is very easy for 

 the so-called Brownian molecular movements to he mistaken for mov- 

 ing spermatozoa, especially in fishes whose spermatozoa, If hot very 

 much magnified, shows only the head and appear like Utile bodies 

 globular in form. 



IS "I co mm enced my investigations," writes Svrslri. "on the 20th 

 November last year (1873). and already iu the second eel which I dis- 

 sected on that dav I found the testicles', and therefore a male individual 

 of an eeU I sent in March of the following year (18T4) to the Academy 

 of Sciences in Vienna a preliminary communication, which was read 

 at the public session held the 15th April, and printed hi the reports of 

 the academy." 



In 1876 Professor Von Siebold found male eels in the Baltic, at Wis- 

 mar. although this discovery was not at this time made known to the 

 public. They have since been found hi the German Ucean, in the At- 

 lantic and in the Mediterranean. 



