FOREST AND STREAM 
389 
■some of them were partially frozen. Most of these lots were afterwards 
examined, but it was not possible to pick out all of the defective eggs, 
since they varied little to the eye from the good ones. I intended to 
make a fair distribution, but as the loss at Charlestown was greater than 
the average, I suppose that in packing up the eggs an undue proportion 
of the frost-bitten lots was placed in the boxes sent thither. 
My own experience, as well as that of other parties who have hatched 
Penobscot salmon (which has always been done with eggs taken from 
impounded fish) leads me to the firm conviction that the young hatched 
from spawn that has not been affected by any extraneous circumstances, 
such as I have alluded to above, are in health, vigor and hardiness fully 
up to the standard of the species. In the first experiment that I tried 
the parent fish were confined from early July till November, in a pound 
which, in midsummer, was only fifty feet square. Yet the parties who 
received the eggs pronounced them and the young fish hatched from 
them the most healthy they had ever known, comparing them with eggs 
that had been received from the Mirimichi River and other points in 
Canada. 
Your correspondent assumes that in our method of impounding sal 
mon they are kept in a “semi-stagnant” condition. This is very far 
from the truth. The pound in use at Bucksport contains ten acres, con¬ 
tracted to not less than eight acres in a drouth, and is formed oy stretch- 
ling a stout net across the mouth of a cave in a natural pond. If 600 sal¬ 
mon are placed in it there is for each of them a space of two square rods 
of water, having an average depth of six feet or more—certainly room 
enough. During the most of the summer the salmon are quite active, 
leaping often with the greatest agility into the air. For experiment’s 
sake the game qualities of the impounded salmon were tried last Sept, at 
my request by Mr. Stillwell, Chairman of the State Board of Commis¬ 
sioners of Fisheries, and other experienced sportsmen. Seven of them 
were taken out, marked, and returned to the water, and the universal 
testimony was that, in fighting qualities, they were not surpassed by the 
most vigorous wild salmon of the Mirimichi. When taken out at the 
spawning season they are, without exception, in fine condition, healthy 
and active, and there is nothing in their behavior or appearance to indi¬ 
cate that there has been any interference with the normal development 
of their re-productive functions. 
When the two species, salmo salar and salmo quinnat are in perfect 
health, there may still be a difference between them as to “vitality, ” if 
by this term we are to understand strength, activity, size, rapidity of 
growth, hardiness, fecundity, &c., just as there is a difference in these 
several respects between a shad or whitefish and salmon. In strength, 
size, rapidity of growth, and perhans in hardiness also, the palm must 
be given to the salmo quinnat of California. In fecundity, on the other 
hand, the salmo salar of Maine is far ahead, and this characteristic, 
combined with its generally admitted superiority as a game and table 
fish may, to say the least, be fairly taken to offset its inferiority in size 
and. other respects. Charges G. Atkins. 
Arrival of the Connecticut Shad in Berlin. —Some 
weeks ago we announced the transmission by the United 
States Fish Commissioner, to the Deutsche Fisherei-Verein 
at Beilin, of a number of specimens of the best quality of 
Connecticut River shad. These were packed in ice with 
the greatest care by Mr. E. G. Blackford, of the Fulton 
Fish Market, and sent through the North German Lloyds. 
This was done in connection with a correspondence be¬ 
tween the United States Commission and the Fisherei- 
Verein as to the feasibility of introducing the American 
shad into German waters. 
We are now happy to announce, thanks to the admirable 
packing of Mr. Blackford, and the care of the steamship 
company, that these shad arrived in good condition, afford¬ 
ing an opportunity to Professor Peters, the distinguished 
head of the Berlin Museum, not only to prepare some of 
them as specimens in alcohol, but also to invite his col¬ 
leagues to taste the flavor of the American fish. Professor 
Peters reports them as being most excellent, and he is much 
in hopes that the measures contemplated for sending a 
stock of young shad to Germany may be carried out suc¬ 
cessfully. 
v( -— ; — 
Eastern Fish in California— A private letter from 
the McCloud River, California, dated at campt, July 11th, 
whei;e Mr. Livingston Stone is superintending the planting 
and hatching of the fish transported from the east in an 
equarium car last month, says:— 
“There are ten of us white men in all, besides the China¬ 
man cook, whose name, curiously enough, is actually Ah 
Sin. To-day we are putting up our large tents for hatch¬ 
ing, a hundred feet long by thirty wide. Monday morning 
we begin to construct our fence across the river for trap¬ 
ping the salmon, which is no trifling undertaking, the 
river being eighty yards wide with a deep and very power¬ 
ful current. We are all in first rate health and “spirits in 
spite of the excessive heat. Thursday the thurmometer at 
the end of our piazza (in the sun) stood at 139° and further 
along on the sand where our tents will be erected, it stood 
at 157°, the highest point which I ever saw the mercury 
rise, from the natural heat of the sun. The river two rods 
to the left is snow water, wtih a temperature of 57°: so 
you can make a change in temperatures of a hundred degrees 
in a single instant by jumping from the sand into the 
river.” S. 
* Marine Animals inTresh Water.— Prof. Ramsey, in 
Popular Science Monthly , states some facts which certainly 
have a most important bearing upon the attempts of our 
Fish Culturists to habilitate shad, salmon, and other ana- 
dromous fish in salt water, and ought to encourage them 
to hope for complete success. He says:— 
At the present day, animals commonly supposed to be 
essentially marine are found inhabiting fresh water. In 
the inland fresh lakes of Newfoundland, seals, which never 
visit the sea, are common and breed freely. The same is 
the case in Lake Baikal, 1,280 feet above the sea level, in 
Central Asia; and, though these facts bear but slightly on 
my present subject, seals being air-breathing Mammalia, 
yet in the broad mouth of the Amazon, far above the tidal 
influx of sea water, marine mollusca, and other kinds of 
life are found, and in soiye of the lakes in Sweden there 
are marine Crustacea. 
€ -- 
Interesting Bivalve Discoveries. —The channel in 
Fore River,^Portland, Me., is being widened, and in dredg¬ 
ing it a large bed of oyster shells was found there some 
three or four feet under the bed of the river. The shells 
are of a very large size, some of them being eight inches 
long and four or five wide. The marks on the shells show 
the oysters to have been about eighty years old when they 
died. The layers of earth upon the bed show it must have 
been in its glory some five hundred years ago, and the 
bed must have been as large as the large ones at the South 
to-day. 
A RARE FISH—THE TARPUM. 
A FISH stall has always had its charms for us, and Mr. 
Blackford’s slab on Saturday last in Fulton Market 
was particularly attractive. Now you may wander through 
a fish market, either like one of Mrs. Barbauld’s two little 
boys in the story book who never saw any thing at all, or 
like the other good little boy (of course he was good) who 
saw everything. A mass of fish are dumped down on the 
stand, and if you have a quick eye, if you are the most 
casual of observers, and even not up itchyologically, you 
may often discover quite a mine of nondescript wealth. 
What was in view, however, at Mr. Blackford’s did not 
require peculiar scrutinizing. There extended at full 
length, full five feet six inches long, was one of the hand¬ 
somest of fishes we ever saw. He looked as if Tiffany had 
wanted to make some huge-fish out of solid silver, and had 
burnished a scale here, and there frosted another scale, 
so that the work perfectly flashed and sparkled in the 
sun. “Name it,” said Mr. Blackford. “Came from 
Florida?” We said dogmatically. “No, caught off Port 
Monmouth yesterdav.” “Sure of that?” we inquired 
doubtfully. “Certain.” “Then we replied oracularly, 
pray hand us Forest and Stream of June 18tli, and you 
will see that Professor G. Brown Goode, of Middletown 
University, has precisely descibed that fish, and get a bit 
of card and write on it tarpum, or Jew fish, and stick it 
on the fish and it will save you no end of questions. Now 
will you be good enough to get us a herring? Not a 
smoked one.” A boy was dispatched to the lower whole¬ 
sale market and a small sea herring some eight inches long, 
was soon procured and laid on the big fish. “Now,” we 
commenced, much to the edification of a distinguished audi¬ 
ence, a negro boy, a lady boarding house keeper bent on 
cheap fish, and a market porter, “you will be pleased to 
observe that your big fish is but an enlarged, a copious edi¬ 
tion of this insignificant herring. Just look at those two 
heads, one scarce an inch and a half in length, the other 
most a foot and a half long. They bear the most striking 
family resemblance. Note that protruding under jaw, how 
it comes up in a lump before, on both the fishes. Fins the 
same on both, save that just as Professor Goode says, 
there is a great prolongation of the last spine of the back 
fin. Little herring has not got it, but the great grand¬ 
father of all the Clupeidm has. (Just here looks of astonish¬ 
ment were visible in the audience, and the fairer 
portion of it retired apparently overcome). This big 
spine,” we continued, “is fourteen inches long. Here 
you will see that nature too, yearns after uniformity, for we 
notice, what we have never seen stated before, that the 
pectorals too have this same spine, though not so large in 
proportion, as the dorsal one.” 
Just here the audience all went about their business, and 
we were enabled to get a closer examination of the fish. 
Such scales! We took two or three of the largest, which 
measured two and a quarter by two inches each, each one 
as beautiful as a shell, and tipped at one side with pure 
silver. We took his extreme breadth, which was one foot 
three inches. Down his throat we could have passed our 
double fist. Asking a fisherman if they were caught fre¬ 
quently, he informed us that he had seen two or three of 
these fish during his life. 
Consulting later Col. De Voe’s most excellent book, “The 
Market Assistant,” we saw that the author states “that to 
his knowledge this very large and scarce fish has been seen 
but four times before in New York.” The measurement 
coincided to an inch with the fine specimen we saw. Two 
tarpons Col. De Yoe says he saw in 1865, and another in 
1857. Referring to Professor Goode’s article we notice 
that he states that “this fish is found occasionally in the 
waters of the West Indies, and on the east coast of the 
United States.” The tarpum he declares to be Megalops 
thi issoides , and he tells us, as does our other correspondent, 
S. C. Clarke, Esq., from Smyrna, Fla., (see page 252, 
May 28) that it is taken in the St. Johns River and brought 
to Jacksonville. Of course we ate some of him boiled. 
Now we are constrained to state that generally the hand¬ 
somer a fish is the better he tastes, and that sometimes the 
uglier he is (vide squid) the nicer he is. But Megalops thris- 
soides , tarpum, tarpon, or Jew fish, is dry fish, with an ex¬ 
aggerated tastelessness common to the herring. Sweet was 
it, but flavorless. Optimists as to fish, as far as their edible 
qualities go, we have no doubt, that converted into a mas- 
todonic Yarmouth bloater, Megalops would in small 
quantity, make a delightful relish for breakfast. 
The Tarpum. —Having written to Professor Baird in 
regard to the megalops described in another portion of this 
paper, the Commissioner of Fisheries has kindly sent us 
the following communication: 
U. S. Commission, Fish and Fisheries, | 
.July 21st', 1874. J 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
The Megalops thrissoides, or Tarpum, is a straggler along our coast, and 
has, I think, been taken as far east as Newport. A skm of this fish in 
the Smithsonian Museum came, I am confident, from that locality. It 
has also been noted as occurring more or less frequently along the coast 
of New Jersey. As this is one of the species not yet photographed or 
cast by the TP S, Fish Commission, I shall be very glad indeed if you 
will see that the next specimen taken in good condition is forwarded in 
ice to the Smithsonian. Very truly yours, Spencer F. Baird, 
Commissioner. 
Voracity of Fish. —An Iowa correspondent calls our 
attention to the voracity of the fish that sometimes get into 
his basket. In two large bass that weighed three pounds 
or so, he found pickerel that measured five and eight inches 
respectively, and in a four pound pickerel he found a six 
ounce rock bass. So, we see that all fish prey upon each 
other, and in this respect are like Dow Jr’s, fleas, which 
“—have other fleas to bite ’em, 
And so go on ad infinitum .” 
The facts are interesting, as showing that bass are not ex¬ 
empt from the attacks of pickerel, though it would seem 
that the chances are two to one on the bass. 
THE GRAYLING AGAIN. 
^ Saint Louis, July, 1874. 
Editor Forest and Stream :— 
I am reminded in chancing .to pick up your Vol. II., No. 
17, to say that about the year 1845 I first made acquaint¬ 
ance with Thymallus tricolor , about which many articles 
have appeared in your paper. We caught that fish in Hol¬ 
land, County of Orleans, State of Vermont, within two 
miles of the boundary of Canada, near latitude 45°. The 
next year we caught others in Newton Pond, now near line 
of Grand Trunk Railroad and not far from Island Pond. 
My fishing companions were, then, Daniel B. Cobb and 
John G. Gilman. We all lived at Derby Line, Vermont; 
they are both dead. When I hooked that curious fish and 
landed him, his appearance recalled to my mind a descrip¬ 
tion I had read in an English work of the grayling, and I 
so named the specimen then before my two companions. 
While they conceded the beauty of the fish and accuracy 
of the description, as I repeated it from, my recollection, 
they utterly refused to assent to my assertion that our speci¬ 
men was grayling. Poor fellows, they are gone now, or I 
might convince them of the correctness of my assertion. 
We cooked that fish and found his flesh delicious—whiter 
than trout, very firm and sweet. The illustration in your 
number of June 4th is a perfect representation of the gen¬ 
eral appearance of our fish, and fully confirms my belief 
that our specimen was a grayling. 
Provided I am correct concerning the fish referred to, it 
only proves the grayling to be common to different degrees 
of longitude, and so far as known, found in the United 
States and Territories in about the same degree of latitude. 
They may be rare at the eastward, or for aught I know, 
abundant, and like woodcock, seldom seen, unless sought 
for. Respectfully, Joseph Joneb. 
CENTRAL PARK MENAGERIE. 
Department op Public Parks, / 
New York, July 26, 1874. j 
Animals received at Central Park Menagerie for the week endiug 
July 25,1874. 
One purple Gailinule, Gallinula martinica. Presented by Mrs. Pinck¬ 
ney Walker. 
Five Horned Toads. Presented by Mr. Wm. Hutchinson, mate of 
steamship Waco. 
One golden crowned Conure, Conurus pertinax. Hab. Cen. America. 
One Agouti, Dasyprocta aguti. 
One Currason, Crax alector. 
Two Guinea Pigs, Cavia cobaya. 
Three Monkeys. W. A. Conklin. 
—F. C. de Nehsosnova’s little incident in bird life will 
appear next week. 
bodhnd, Wmvn and (Barden. 
THE CURCULIO ON THE PLUM. 
“How shall I kill the rascal ?” This inquiry was made 
to the Woodland, Lawn and Garden department of Forest 
and Stream, and although somewhat late in the season to 
use effectually all the known remedies for the preservation 
of fruit, I give for the benefit of all, my own experime ital 
Knowledge , and its general safety and good results. 
In speaking upon this highly interesting subject, I notice, 
first, that “Nature has an antidote for most of the ills of 
Nature;” and if the Agriculturist has, as the world grows 
older, new as well as old enemies to contend with, he also 
finds 'an increasing amount of knowledge beneath his hand, 
the accumulated weapons of years of experience and obser¬ 
vation. If he must fight, he fights intelligently, and not in 
the dark. 
I have given considerable attentive observation to the 
culture of the plum, and as a matter of course, in common 
with others, I have met the insect enemy, the formidable 
curculio —the “plum cuss” were a better name for this 
destroying bug or worm. I have had some forty years’ ex¬ 
perience as an agricultural student, under the best teachers, 
and, for a considerable length of time, had the benefit and 
teachings of that best of masters, A. J. Downing, Esq. I 
have learned among other things that, although I have 
learned many things of value in agricultural science, I am 
still only a learner like many others in the great studio of 
the world. 
My earliest attention (1835) was called to the ravages of 
this formidable insect by a gentleman who, in a communi¬ 
cation from Ohio, stated his grievances and his observa¬ 
tion of the habits of this insect, and his own application of 
natural remedies. After experiments of my own, I found 
his theory to be fully confirmed and well sustained by 
carefully made tests for three years, always with success. 
Whenever you can, therefore, use the means provided by 
nature, always at hand, be sure to do so. The means used 
under the head of natural remedial agents , are, first, the 
crude and pungent ammoniacal manures. The curculio, or 
plum weevil, has a very nice sense of smell, and therefore 
when a very pungent odor is given to it as a breathing 
atmosphere, it dies, or leaves the place. From my own 
observation, I am quite sure that the manure of swine and 
hens will effectually protect, if not entirely prevent, the 
attack of curculio. To this you may add strong wet horse 
manure, laid around the trunk of the plum tree. Knowing 
the habits of your enemy, you may attack him in his 
stronghold, and you are also well aware that he always fol- 
