jMarch 16, 1882.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



133 



Aquarium, who has recently discovered the true nature of 

 the organ of Syrsld In the conger, are extremely interesting, 



"nine-. Syrski, in 1874, found the organs in Anr/uil'a vul- 

 garis— which are called by his name, and which, by him and 

 ists, were taken for the male reproductive Qrgafl 

 •- ii is, only necCfflary that a ripe male eel should bo found in 

 order to settle forever the question of the sexes of the eel. 

 Up to tins time all efforts have failed to reach the desired re- 

 Bolt. The historical investigations of the Syrskian organs 

 by 3. Freud render it more probable that these mere 

 young roes; J'et there remained all the time a doubt, since 

 the spermatozoa had not been actually observed, and this on 

 ecriainty is iui insuperable obstacle to the acceptance of the 

 Syrskian disrovery. The supposed discovery of spefmatozi i a 

 by A. 8, Paekard'in the male eel proved to' be another delu- 

 sion. The contradiction of this imaginary discovery a.ppeard 

 in N'n. 26 of the second volume of" tin ■'/.-■; ,.,,.'-.■'.' 

 p. 19S, in which it was stated that the motile bodies were not 

 fcermatozoa, but yolk particles. This correction was also 

 ■ Von Siebold's assistant, Dr. Paul, ' * and by S. Th. 



Ii is well known, as Vou Siebold remarks, that young eels, 

 a.- '--roiling the rivers, developed into females and that the 

 1 1 -i. d i a remain in the sea or at the mouths of rivers. This 

 Efttement cannot be. exaclly demonstrated, since among 250 

 eels, from 11 to 15 iuches in length, taken in the vicinity of 

 LCumlosen, I found 18 males pi 5 per cent. (Cumlosen is sit- 

 uae-d in the vicinity of Wittenberg, and is at least 120 miles 

 I from the mouth of the Elbe). How large the percentage of 

 difference between the neighborhood of the mouth of' Elbe 

 and places situated farther up the stream, as regards the pro- 

 portion of males and females, may lie, I have hitherto, from 

 want of material, hcen unable to decide. Forty from the 

 Havel at Havelberg (about 20 miles from Cumlosen) w T ere all 

 [females. Out of 127 eels taken in the bays at Rugen, in the 

 I Bailie, I found 61 or 44i per cent, males," while at Wismar, 

 on the. Danish coast, the males only constituted 11 per cent' 

 Whether these facts have any connection with the discovery 

 «>f i in- hitherto unknown spawning places of the eels, it is 

 to be hoped that further observations wi 11 determine. 



When Cattle, in his already cited work, gives it as a de- 

 termined fact that the eels wander into deep water here, in 

 order to let their generative organs attain maturity, which 

 n&ppens in six or eight weeks, and that the old male and fe- 

 male eels, after the reproductive act, die, according to my 

 knowledge; there are wanting observations which will give 

 this a scientific foundation. What Von Siebold and Jaeoby 

 only state as probable appear to him (Cattie) to have become 

 already established facts. 



As far as the distinction between male and female eels by 

 exl erred characters is concerned, the eels sent to me, sonic 

 time in November, from the coast of Schleswig showed so 

 great difference in color that their sender, the fish-master 

 Eiukleman, was able to decide without difficulty between 

 .males and females. The former were distinguished by a 

 specially brown coloration, while the females, in addition to 

 greater size, almost without exception exhibited a dull steel- 

 gray color. Among the males were found many specimens 

 of 17 4-5 inches in length, which I was careful to note be- 

 cause Syrski had only found the size of 16 4-5 inches. In 

 Comacchio, according to Jaeoby, a specimen of 18 4-5 

 inches had been found. 



JACOBV'S TOUR TO COMACCOIO IN 1877, AND HIS CONCLU- 

 SIONS. 



"In the fall of 1877," writes Jacoby, "I undertook a jour- 

 ney from Trieste, by way of Kavenna, to Comacchio; con- 

 vinced of the difficulty of the questions to bo solved by my own 

 previous labors, I had no great hopes of finding sexually im- 

 mature eels, either gravid females or mature males.' My 

 Jhighest aim was at the beginning to determine the following 

 points; (1) Whether evidences of preparation for breeding 

 might not be found in the eels which were wandering in the 

 fall toward the sea; (2) to what extent eels with the origin of 

 Syrski could be found participating in this migration; (3) as 

 fax as possible to obtain eels from the sea, at a distance from 

 the coast in order to compare their organs of reproduction 

 with those of the eels in the lagoons. 



"In determining the answers to the first two questions I 

 was able to make some new and interesting discoveries, but 

 with regard to the latter, my most diligent efforts were abso- 

 rlutely fruitless. 



•I found that the eels when migrating to the sea in the 

 fall took no food. In many hundreds examined by me, 

 caughl during their movement, I found stomach and intes- 

 ■ ly empty ; that the eels during their migrations eat 

 nothing is also kunwn to all fishermen and watermen of 

 Camacchio. At the same time, tin; eels which remained in 

 thclagoons were more or less idled with food, not only those 

 which were not sufficiently mature to migrale, but'also a 

 breed of eel-, which never goes to the "sea, but remains 

 proughoiil its entire life in the lagoons. 



"There may be found in Comacchio, and doubtless every - 

 jghore where cols live in great numbers in. brackish water 

 jftlong the con •! . a peculiar- group of eels which, as far as 1 

 could determine, Consists entirely of sterile females. These 

 female eels with ovaries present a' very peculiar phenomenon; 

 when they are opened one finds instead of the well-known 

 yellowish-white, very fattv, cull-shaped organ, a thin, 

 L sc.uinmy, slightly folded membrane, not at all fatty, often as 

 tran-p.ir.--:,t asglai . and of about the same proportional size 

 as the so-called cuff-shaped organ. When this membrane is 

 examined under the microscope there may be seen In it eggs 

 very transparent, in appenrance. with yolk dots absent' or 

 with yolk dots very small and few. This organ appears to 

 be an abnormally-developed ovary, incapable of fertilization. 

 gfhfesc sti rile females, which 1 found of ali sizes, even up to 

 the length of 27 inches, present all of the acknowledged fe- 

 male characters in greal prominence and in an exaggerated 

 degree; the snout is broader, and often, especially a?°the tip 

 of the under jaw. extraordinarily broad; the dorsal tin-; are, 

 on the average, higher; the eyes are much smaller, especially 

 in large specimens, and the coloring is clearer; the back of a 

 Hearer green and the belly yellower- than in the normal 

 female. Tin' flesh of these sterile females ha< a verv deli- 

 cate flavor, and quite' differenl from that of other eels. I 

 we-, quite astonished at the fine Qavor when I tasted them for 

 the first time in Comacchio. The flesh, as the expression 

 goes, melts upon the tongue. It is even possible to distin- 

 guish them while living by feeling them with the hand, their 

 sofi bodies being Tory different from the hard. spUdj muecu- 



lar fti -I; Of the others. 



"In Comacchio these eels are called Taseiuti.' Coste 

 culled them Treseetti.' and defined them to be those eels 

 wlich had not become ripe, but which were at least a pound 

 in weiidii. The nam.- Tri>e>tti' is, however, Very incorrect, 

 P 1 have become convinced bv questioning the 'fish inspec- 

 — by hearing n I fche. iNJieiieen 



Tasciuto' means 'pastured,' and the fishermen understand 

 by this those eeis which do not, migrate; but •which remain 

 through the whole yeaf feeding in' the lagoons. They' he 

 elude, bovuver, under this name, eels of two kinds— the 

 sterile females already described, and the eels which are not 

 yet ripe, as well as the normal females and supposed males, 

 whose period of migration is somewhai remote. This cir- 

 cumstance is o cause of much difficulty to the investigator. ' a 



"The studies on the second point to be solved Were of 

 special Interest, vi/,, the determination of 'be presence and 

 the behavior of eels with organs of Svrstu, at Comacchio. t 

 can answer this question very briefly, since among 1,200 

 specimens examined by me at the fishing stations and. at the 

 so-called eel factories (with the exception of the largest speci- 

 mens, which are always females), I found on an average of 

 five per cent, with the organ of Syrski; of the eels under 15 

 inches in length (45 centimeters) on an average there were 20 

 per cent., so that the conclusions as to their abundance were 

 very similar to those at Trieste, where the fish market is sup- 

 plied, for the greater part, with eels from Chioggia, and to a 

 less extent with those from Comacchio, 



"In Comacchio the largest eels with the Organ of Syrski, 

 which I have observed, were about 17 inches (48 centimeters) 

 in length, the smallest about 9 inches (24 centimeters). All 

 of these were found among the eels taken during their migra- 

 tion to the sea, and, like the females, were found With 

 stomachs completely empty or slightly tilled with a slimy 

 substance. It was impossible to find iii any specimen B lore 

 advanced development of the Sjerskian organ than in those 

 examined in summer at Trieste, 



"With reference to the third question undertaken by me, 

 Which relates to the actual kernel of the eel question, that isj 

 the possibility of obtaining the eels which have migrated out 

 tosea, in order to obtain in this manner the sexually mature 

 milters and spawners, Ihave been unable to obtain any results. 

 I have, so far as my opportunities permitted, left no stone 

 unturned to gain its solution. I went out to sea from Mag- 

 navacea and from Codigora, on Chioggian vessels, and many 

 times have fished myself, and have sli initiated the fishermen 

 by offers of reward to endeavor to obtain eels at sea, but I 

 am forced to the conclusion that with the ordinary means 

 this cannot be done.. 



"Intelligent gray-headed fisherman of Chioggia, who by 

 means of their fishing apparatus know this part of the 

 Adriatic as well as they know their own pockets, have 

 assured me that throughout their entire lives they have never 

 caughl a grown-up river eel in the sea at any distance from 

 the coast. The eels which were brought to me at Mannbaoh 

 as having been caught in the sea, and which I found to be 

 the ordinary females, or eels with the Syrskian organ, were 

 either from localities close to the shore where they tire not 

 rare, or wore taken in the Palotta canal. There w as no lack 

 of. attempts at deception. Fishermen took eels from the 

 shore with them in order to be able, on their return, to claim 

 that they had been caught at sea. In the immediate neighbor- 

 hood of_ the coast they are, as it has been stated, in the 

 spring-time not rare, and there are not the slightest differ- 

 ences between these and the eels of the lagoons. I found 

 both females and eels with the organ of Syrski with their 

 reproductive organs in the same immature "condition as in 

 Comacchio; evidently they had just come through the Palotta 

 canal from the lagoon into the sea. A certain distance, 

 perhaps one or two marine miles from the coast, every trace 

 is lost of the adult eels which wander by the many thous- 

 and into the sea. Strange as this problem appears at first 

 sight, it is easily understood when the character of the fishing 

 apparatus is considered; the nets are those used in the cap- 

 ture, of lobsters, and are worked over the bottom; tbey have 

 meshes much too large to hold the eels, or, when they are 

 small-meshed, they do not reach the bottom. The problem 

 can only be solved by using apparatus constructed especially 

 for the purpose." 



The economical value of the eel as a food fish has been 

 well established, and it is now greatly sought after for intro- 

 duction into the localities where, for "some physical or other 

 reason, it is unknown. The advantages as summed up by 

 a German writer, are, first, that an eel will live and grow in 

 any water, however warm, and whatever be the general 

 character of the bottom, though it prefers the latter when 

 muddy and boggy ; second, the eel requires no special food, 

 but devours anything, living or dead: it is an excellent 

 scavenger, feeding upon dead fish, crabs, etc., as well as 

 upon any living prey it can secure; third, but few conditions 

 can interfere with its development, and it grows with very 

 .great rapidity, being marketable at the age of three years; 

 fourth, the young, on account of their' hardiness, can be 

 transported in a crowded Condition, and to any distance, 

 with very little risk of destruction. These considerations 

 are, in the main, well established, and there is no question, 

 but that the eel can be introduced in many waters to advan- 

 tage, supplementing the earlier inhabitants, It has been 

 planted in the waters of the upper lakes and the Mississippi 

 River; in the latter they have, reached an advanced develop- 

 ment. It is, however, a very undesirable inmate of rivers in 

 which fish are taken by means of gill nets, the destruction 

 of shad and herring in the waters of the Susquehanna and 

 Others further South being enormous. It is not unfrcquent 

 that when a gill-net is hauled up. the greater part of the 

 catch consists simply of heads and backbones, the remainder 

 being- devoured by myriads of eels in the short time the net 

 is left out. The spawning shad are considered be them a 

 special delicacy, and are found emptied at the vent and com- 



<le: 





aoehio 



him under the name • 

 snouts. The following tallies n; re pr.-i 

 the total length of the hotly; of the eel 

 between the nasal tubes, in millimeters. 



A.— Sterile female or 









C~Eels with supposed 



Pasciuti. 



B.— 



Normal female. 



male organs. 



| a. t 





1 "" 



b. 



" " 



I 508 10 



I 



513 



8 



I 







1: 



497 



7 



II 



480 



6 



ni 1 458 10 



III 



405 



ti 



III 



■ 



6 



1 v 1 13 



IV 



:,-, 



7 



IV 



•; t:. 





8.5 



V 



m 



C 



V 



438 



5 



VI 108 8 



VI 



m 



8 



VI 



41'3 



5 



VII 305 i 11+ 



VII 



896 





VII H% 





plctely gutted of the ovaries. Sometimes the shad, appar- 

 ently full, is found to contain several eels of considerable 

 Size, They do not seem to be very destructive Of living Ssh 

 of any magnitude, although the young fry are devoured with 

 gusto! 



Tub Indiana Fish Ajrfi C -\mk Association have elected 

 Samuel E. Williams, President: Charles M, Walker, Viee- 

 Pnsident; Alex. 6. Jameson, Secretory, and Harry C. Hollo- 

 way, Treasurer. John A. Finch. B. W. Langdon and John 

 ( 'of man were appointed a committee to prepare amendments 

 to the existing fish and game taws for submission to the next 

 Legislature, and a committee was appointed to distribute 

 1 ! i-i iughout the State circulars setting forth the object of the. 

 ; - : eeition. A committee was also appointed to secure the. 

 ii , , ;-ie,rat,ion of the association. A "resolution offered by 

 Mr. Finch was adopled requesting the fcCUSleGS of Purdue 

 University, at Lafavette, Ind., to provide a model fish pond 

 for the benefit of tin- people of the Stale. The association 

 decided that nothing more could be done to , rd : venting 

 the destruction of fish by the dynamite fiends, until all amend- 

 ments to the existing laws Could bC secured and rigidly en- 

 forced through local associations. The association then 

 adjourned until the second Tuesday in January, 1883. 



^istfcuthtr^ 



jhi : bv chair broad 



• ■" cilia. 4gives 



ireadth of the snout 



THE CALIFORNIA LAND-LOCKED SALMON. 



THE "Watsonville. Cal., Pajanmian recently stated that 

 large numbers of salmon were, being taken 'in the streams 

 in that vicinity, anel that they clearly differed from" the ordi- 

 nary coast or river salmon. The fishes were described as being- 

 much more slender in form than' the latter, with finer scales, 

 peculiar spots, etc. The editor of the Siwrajnenta Bm few- 

 warded the item to Hon. B. B. Redding, State fish eornmis- 

 ainner, with a request that he would favor the renders of the 

 Hm with ills opinion in regard to the identity of the*» fishes, 

 in response to which lie? writes as follows: 



EniiORS .Bee; Yours, with tile extract from the Pajaronja'd f 

 dtdy received. In answer I w-oidd Say'i J'lrdon and Gilbert, of 

 the .Smithsonian Institute, were here in l" ; >'<> .e-atheriiiK statis- 

 tics of fish and fisheries for the census. They a,ade a Careful 

 examination, and so far there have, been found five varieties 

 cif Sainton on the Pacific coast. Sacramento River salmon 

 spawn in August, afi3 September, wliile those that come Into 1 

 the San Joaquin probably spawil at an earlier pei-iod, for the 

 reason that the eggs are ripe earlier iii the fish taken from the 

 San Joaquin than those taken from the Sacramento^ The 

 salmon of the short coast rivers is one of i - Etve varieties. 

 It ascends these, short streams during the heavy rains, or after 

 the first; rains of winter break the bars at the month of rivers., 

 and reaches as high its it »,an into the pastures and i:ie. ■ . e 

 of Hie Coast Range, and there spawns and immediately returns, 

 to the ocean. In quality it does not c --".pare with the salmon 

 of the Sacramento River; it is not so good when fresh; neither 

 is it so good when canned. When canned and sent; abroad it 

 injures 'the reputation of the Sacramento River fleB. In the 

 San Francisco market it is called trout or salmon trolit, but, it 

 is a true garnicai. 



Land-locked salmon have been put into the Pa jaro Paver, 

 and also into the lakes of Salinas Valley, and probably have 

 increased in numbers. A person familiar v.i: • ■ -i i.nneuto 

 River Salmon and the. sahiion of the coast stream- jould as- 

 readily tell one front Che other as you could tell a .Eur' o 

 from a Chinaman or a negro. It ii"- ;i-h taken in th"Paj*P4 

 have five black spots about the size or !j;a--kshot on the oper- 

 culum or gill-cover, it is certain they are land locked salmon. 

 If the people taking any strange or' peculiar fish, iii any part 

 of the State would send one of them to me I would take it t<? 

 the Academy of Sciences and have its species determined, 

 and ascertain What particular fish it is. I hardly think it 

 probable that land-locked salmon in the Pajaro have become 

 so numerous that they can be taken in large quantities, and 

 the probability is that the fish mentioned in tbe.Pajaronian 

 is the ordinary coast stream, salmon. It would be difficult to 

 tell what a fish is by a newspaper deseripl a in, I trdinarily the 

 particular marks which distinguish different varieties of fish 

 are the last things to be noticed. 



Once before a committee of the Legislature an old fisher- 

 man from Coliinsville stated to the committee that he had 

 fished for twenty-eight years on the Sacramento, in fact, he 

 had done nothing else, since, he came to California in IS49 but 

 fish on the. Sacramento; that he was entirely familiar with 

 the appearance -and habits of the salmon; that he was satis- 

 fied he himself had caught several millions of them; he felt 

 certain that fhev spawned on the sand bars about the mouth 

 of the San Joaquin and Sacramento. When asked by oue of 

 the committee if he thought he was familiar with everything 

 about the appearance of the salmon and its structure, he said 

 yes, as he had opened and cleaned hundred-- of thousands pf 

 them. Then the chairman of the committee asked him if he 

 could tell how many fins the fish had, counting the tail as a 

 Mn. The old fisherman confessed that he could not; that it 

 had not occurred to him to con nt them. 



1 state this to illustrate to you how difficult it would be for 

 me to teU a fish by a newspaper description. 



B. B, REimiNr;. 



THE RAINBOW TROUT. 



I have noticed items in your valuable paper at various 

 times in regard to our California brook, or rainbow trout. 

 Being engaged in raising a species, which 1 believe to be the 

 rainbow trout, and having had but a short experience with 

 them—a little less than three years — I am anxious to get more 

 information concerning them." If all who are engaged in rais- 

 ing or intending to raise'fish, were posted in regard to their 

 rapid growth, and kuew how readily they adapt, themselves 

 to waters of different temperatures and to food of different 

 kinds, it would check to some extent the rage for carp, and 

 increase the demand for trout. 



The fact that thousands of their eggs can be procured and 

 sent to any part of the country with safety, at a light cost, 

 and that they can then be hatched and are. ready for use 

 within six or eight months, render them more desirable than 

 the carp. It is w(Ql known that carp eggs cannot be slu'pped. 

 and that only a few of lia-e (ish can I, • pro -or -d by anyone 

 person. Then it requires two years after - • pond 



f or them to hegin to increase. Consequently, as vou see, ! 

 would be feasting on trout two years before you would get a 

 taste of carp. We also have another advantage; It is not 

 ii.-.-e--ar> to draw the water from the pond in order to catch 

 the trout, while it is necessary to do so to catch the carp. 

 Still another point m fa vor of' the trout, they ,iw superipr m 

 flavor. The larger Hsh are equally as line flavored, as the 

 smaller ones. Persons recent b from tie- Eastern States pro- 

 nounce my trout superior in flavor to th • Eastern brook tfjut. 



The rainbow trout a*e nol bo particular about their food as 

 the Eastern brook trout. They eat bread crumbs greedily. 

 I have found iu the contents "of t, heir stomachs leaves and 

 weeds that grow in the lake, which \ think must have been 

 taken from choice, because th'-n- were more than they neces- 

 sarily would have swallowed in capturing their food. In 

 order to show how r-uudU the rainbow trout will erow. I -.-.-■. II 

 relate my experience with them. In September, i-.e. \ 

 stocked a sway lake, containing forty-five acres, with 2,000 

 fish, haull ng them in harrek a d istauce of e , aught, 



