JtTNE 19, 1881] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



409 



Rainbow Tkdtjt.— Caledonia, N. Y., Juno 10.— Last 

 Tuesday evening a gentleman from our village caught with 

 the fly in the O;il,;)kuor Alleys Greek, a rainbow trout weigh- 

 itio- four pounds ten ounces; it was a perfect flail in marking 

 and colors and gave him great sport. He says that it was a 

 full hour before be could laud it. The fish was taken below 

 a dam about two miles below the month of Caledonia Creek, 

 the stream into which fbe rainbows were first placed on the 

 Atlantic coast,— Jambs Ajtoin, Jr. WellsviQe, N. Y., 

 June 9.— In the summer of 1880 California trout were first 

 pinned in the Genesee 1'iver in this vicinity. Last Friday 

 a t California trout was caught at Shongo, eight miles up the 

 river from this place, which weighed' three pounds seven 

 ounces. The Fact is demonstrated that our foreign friends 

 will attain a good size in these waters.— Ci.ahk.nce A.. 

 Farnum, 



Wind Fish.— New York.— Perhaps I can help "N." out 

 as to the wind fish of the Haekensack, Two summers ago, 

 wbile spending a few days at Rock '.and county, living to 

 take some pickerel. I beard n good deal about this fish, but 

 could not gel oue. Not long after my return home two were 

 sen l, mo. i thought I knew them., for I had taken them 

 in streams in Michigan wbile fishing for trout, and at my 

 old home iu Canada. I look the specimens to a friend in the 

 Forest and Stream office, who said I was right in calling 

 one of them a dace and the other a chub. These two were 

 Dot over three or four ounces in weight, but 1 have seen 

 them as large as a half pound. I understand that the reason 

 they were "called "wind fish" was not because they "bit" 

 best wheu the wind blew, but because of their large ait 

 bladder, or as the boys called it, "wind bag/' — Niagara. 



Bas.s at St. Clatr Flats.— Detroit, Mich., June 14.— T 

 am glad to note that our Canadian friends at St. Clair Flats 

 have stopped, or at least have endeavored to stop, the catch- 

 ing of black bass off the .spawning beds, in. or near Johnson's 

 channel. For years, many Detroiters and others on this 

 side of the creek, have regularly iu May and early June 

 taken enormous numbers of black bass from Johnson's 

 channel. As the spawning season in those waters lasts until 

 June 15 or even later, anglers should have had more 

 thought. Withiu ten days several Canadian sportsmen have 

 taken the matter in baud, and have politely informed 

 parties fishing there that their laws prohibit the catebiug of 

 black bass between May 1 and June 15, and their notifications 

 have been the means of saving myriads of eggs and small 

 fry. Good for the Canadians.— Delta. 



New Jeesey Salt-Water Fishing.— June 14— Weak- 

 tish have begun to run into the bays on the New Jersey 

 coast. At Barnegat, fair fishing is "reported. Sea bass are 

 biting, and a number have been taken inside the inlet near 

 the "old wreck." Have heard of but few sheepshead boated 

 as yet. It is beginning to be the time for them to appear. 

 No bluefish yet. — Homo. 



Another Mosquito Repellent.— The "Angler's com- 

 fort," manufactured by N. S. Harlow, Bangpr, Me., is 

 highly spoken of by those who have used it iu their cam- 



gaigns against the insects of Maine, the Adirondacks and 

 anada. 



Cynthiana, Ky., June 10. —Black bass fishing has not 

 been so good as usual iu this section this spring, owing to 

 high and cool water.— J. A. Hen shall. 



JUislfcnlture* 



SALT AS AN AGENT FOR THE DESTRUCTION 

 OF THE FISH FUNGUS. 



BY PROF. H. J. RICE. 

 [Head before the American Fishcultural Association.] 



THERE are very few persons who have ever had anything 

 to do with the artificial rearing of fish; especially"' if the 

 rearing is carried on in comparatively quiet and warm water ; 

 or who have ever had very much to" do with fish in aquaria, 

 but have be«n more or less exercised over the decorations and 

 ravages of that very insidious and annoying vegetable para- 

 site, commonly known as fish fungus, although it occurs, in- 

 deed, on many other objects than eggs and fishes. Many 

 means have been employed for its destruction and innumer- 

 able efforts made to dislodge it from the tanks where it had 

 obtained a firm foothold. Asphalt, tar, salycilic acid, salt and 

 various other simple or compound agents of destruction have 

 been employed, and while each and all of them have been pro- 

 nounced beneficial, yet most of them are difficult to apply, 

 and after being applied much care is necessary in order that 

 the agents shall not be the means of doing that which they 

 were employed to prevent; that is, cause the death of the eggs 

 or fish experimented with. Of all the agents thus far em- 

 ployed for the purpose of destroying this fungus, or saproleg- 

 nia. common salt is, taking everything into consideration, 

 probably the most useful, since it can always be easily ob- 

 tained and quickly manipulated. But it, is always well to 

 bear in mind that with whatever agent the work is carried 

 on, the agent will perform its part only when associated with 

 vigdance, persistence and zeal on the part of the operator. 



Having had occasion during the past season to make certain 

 experiments m the direction of dislodging and exterminating 

 this undesirable form of vegetation, which had secured too 

 fir in a hold in certain tanks and upon certain animals and 

 fishes in the laboratory at Fulton Market, N. Y., I determined 

 to try the effect of the continual use of a strong solution of 

 salt, and to note carefully the results. The work was thus 

 merely supplemental to what has already been done in this 

 direction, and, so far as it goes, corroborative of such previous 

 effort*. The animals upon which I experimented personally 

 were goldfish of the Japanese variety, black bass and speci- 

 mens of Necturus lateralis, or the mud puppy. I also induced 

 Mr. Geo. Ricardo, fish warden of Bergen county, N. J. , to 

 undertake some experiments as to the efficiency of salt in 



.. begun during _ 

 month of January, and continued several months. The speci- 

 mens operated upon were from a lot brought over from Japan 

 and China iu December by Capt. Jones, of the steamer Oxford- 

 shire, and placed immediately upon them arrival in tanks of 

 running water at the stand of Commissioner E. G. Blackford 

 in Fulton Market. The fish had been very severely handled 

 during their ocean voyage, many of them having large num- 

 bers of the scales knocked from their sides, evidently from 

 being thrown against the sides of them vessel as the steamer 

 struggled in the rolling waves. 



From this cause, and undoubtedly also from the fact that 

 the water into which they were placed was too cold for their 

 warmth-loving constitution, they commenced to die, one by 

 one, within a day or two of their landing on our shores. Those 

 that died first were hardly more than still before the velvet- 

 like plush of the saprolegnia spotted their bodies, or fins, or, in 



some cases, literally enveloped them in a robe of white. Soon 

 not oidy the dead bat the liviDg wore similarly decorated and 

 it became evident very quickly that if something was not 

 done the saproleqnia would, before long, claim them all its 

 victims, although it is hardly more than justice, perhaps, to 

 state that the fungus in all probability was in these cases, 

 whatever it may be in other cases, a secondary rather than a 

 primal cause of death. While death was thus making sad 

 havoc in the ranks of those of these beautiful fishes which 

 were kept in the running Croton water down-stairs, those 

 which I had taken, very soon after then' arrival, up-siarrsinto 

 the laboratory and placed in a small aquarium of moderately 

 warm water, were getting along very nicely and were not 

 troubled at all with the fungus. 1 then requested that four or 

 five of those specimens affected with the fungus shoidd be 

 taken from the tank and sent up to me to be treated with a 

 salt bath. 1 prepared the bath by placing throe or four hands- 

 fid of coarse salt in a small quantity of water and then healed 

 it over the fire until the salt was all dissolved. 



Cold water was then added until the whole was a tempera- 

 ture of about 60 degrees, when the fish were taken very 

 gently out and placed in their new location. At first the 

 change was not apparently agreeable, as they darted about 

 in a furious manner, but some became quiet and were taken 

 out after an immersion of about one minute and returned to 

 fresh water, but not to the same from whence they had been 

 taken. Iu the course of half an hour or an hour the fungus began 

 to ioosen from the. body in quite large patches, showing that 

 the connection of the hyphfe, or rootete, with the skin had 

 been destroyed, and the next morning I picked out quite a 

 large number of these discarded fungus flakes which the fish 

 had tin-own off into the waters during the night. In order to 

 make sure that the hyphse should be entirely destroyed, and not 

 leave relics from whence new crops might be generated, I gave 

 each fish two additional baths of the strong salt water,aud until 

 they were moved from then- aquarium and injured at a later 

 period I f oimd no traces of fungus on any of them. It is true 

 that in some of the cases experimented upon the salt water 

 did not cure the fish, but the salt water certainly killed the 

 fungus, and undoubtedly if the fishes had not been very much 

 debilitated before the bath was given them, their fives might 

 have -been prolonged as in the case of some of the others. The 

 black bass which was experimented with was literally loaded 

 with a fluffy plating of fungus when it was first placed in the 

 bath. It acted much in the same manner as did the goldfish, 

 except that from its size and strength it produced a much 

 greater commotion in the water. It was left in the bath about 

 ten minutes and then replaced in the tank from whence it 

 had been taken. The next morning the entire surface of the 

 body looked as if a strong card had passed over it and had raked 

 the fungus out into long filaments and strings and streams, 

 ready to be pulled off with scarcely an effort. Two days after a 

 second bath was administered, but whde still more of the 

 fungus was loosened, the parasite had evidently been too long 

 at work, the hyphse had penetrated too deeply and drawn 

 for too long a time upon the tissues of the fish for it to recover, 

 and in two days more it ceased to move, 



The next animals to be experimented with were nine speci- 

 mens of the mud puppy or Necturws lateralis. These had all 

 been more, or less injured about the mouth with the book in 

 their capture, and two or three had them tails badly mutilated. 

 Some of them were very much matted with the f uugus when 

 they arrived, whde oohers were only slightly attacked. They 

 were all placed in the bath and the fungus was loosened or 

 killed upon all of them, but the salt water had the effect, in 

 the cases of those severely injured, of aggravating the injury, 

 and by increasing the rawness of the wounds, prepared the 

 field for a new crop of the fungus, since the water was full of 

 the saprolegnia spores, ready, and indeed anxious to continue 

 the old condition of affairs whenever opportunity offered. In 

 such cases the new crop of fungus sprang up with a rankness 

 and a velocity which was truly surprising, and if I had not 

 known that the salt water would kill the fungus, I should 

 have been inclined to think that in these cases salt water 

 acted as a fertilizer for the hyphse. I am inclined, however, 

 to think that the true condition of affairs was that the salt 

 water killed a part of the hyphse, and at the same time ren- 

 dered the wounded surfaces much more suitable locahties 

 than ever they were before for the growth of the fungus, and 

 then when the animals were replaced in the fresh water, the 

 spores, wdiich were there in countless numbers, finding suitable 

 territory in which to develop, took root, and together with 

 the remnants of the old hyphce, grew with wonderful 

 rapidity. At any rate I succeeded in destroying the fungus 

 only on those animals which were not badly wounded. The 

 rest died. 



In the spring of 1877, while engaged in studying the embry- 

 ology of the smelt at New Brunswick, N, J., under the au- 

 spices of the Maryland Fish Commission, I found that one of 

 the most serious drawbacks in the manipulation of the jars in 

 which the eggs were placed was the collection and growth of 

 the saprolegnia upon the trays and upon the eggs, especially 

 whenever the eggs were much massed together, as they often 

 were in clusters of the size of a large walnut or larger. With 

 the arrangements which we then had we could not try the 

 effect of salt upon this growth of fungus, but m my report to 

 the Commission I expressed my opinion in favor of testing the 

 salt-water bath, as soon as arrangements for its use could be 

 made. 



An opportunity to test this method with the smelt eggs did 

 not occur until this spring when in talking with Mr. Ricardo, 

 who was engaged in manipulating smelt spawn upon the 

 Haekensack, I suggested that he should try the effect of im- 

 mersing the small eggs in strong salt water, particularly such 

 of them as had any fungus attached to them. The method 

 employed by Mr. R'cardo in attaching the smelt spawn, which 

 is similar to that employed by Mr. C. G. Atkins in Maine, some 

 years age, that is by taking blades of sedge or water grass and 

 dipping them into the pans of milted spawn prevents to a great 

 extent, if not entirely, the massing together of the eggs, since 

 the rough surface of the blades allow only a single layer at 

 most to adhere to the surface ; the result is pretty even distri- 

 bution of the eggs over the blades and not much chance for 

 the attachment of the fungus except on the dead eggs and the 

 dead portions of the grass. Still there always is a greater or 

 less amount of fungus present, and very much in proportion 

 to the greater or less flow of water over the eggs. 



Acting upon my suggestion, Mr. Ricardo prepared some salt 

 water, strong enough, as he said, "to bear up a potato," and 

 placed some of the egg-bearing grass blades in it. He took 

 those blades which had considerable fungus upon them, and 

 after leaving the blades in the water for fifteen or twenty 

 minutes, he took them out and found that the fungus had 

 been killed so completely that it could be stripped from off the 

 eggs like a slough, leaving the eggs nearly, if not quite as clean 

 as when first taken. From that time on until the eggs hatched 

 out, which was, I believe, a period of about two weeks, he 

 gave them a bath every day or every other day, and no more 

 fungus appeared, and only about five per cent, of the whole 

 number failed to hatch. Every experiment which he tried 

 seemed to show the advantage of the salt bath in the destruc- 

 tion of the fungus, and that little or no harm resulted to the 

 embryo fish. In order to test the effect of continued immer- 

 sion upon the embryo, he placed some ova in the salt water 

 and kept them there for forty-eight hours. At this time they 

 were all in good condition, and it was not untfl they had been 

 kept constantly immersed for from sixty to seventy hours that 

 the embiyos were unfavorably affected. 



Short immersions seem to have veiy little effect upon either 

 the embryo or the adult fish, and, wbile there is a point be- 

 yond which we cannot safely go in onr experiments with 

 either the one or the other, yet. of the two the embryo seems 

 to.bfe.able to stand a longer immersion than the adult* especi- 

 ally than these species whichare not anadromdus. Short and 



moderately frequent immersions, then, will in all probability 

 accomplish what is desired, so far as the destruction of the 

 fungus is concerned. This, at least, seems to have been the 

 case in my experiments, but it is much better, in eveiy case 

 where it is practicable to do so, to give this salt bath as soon 

 as any fungus is discovered and before the hyphfe have, pene- 

 trated very deeply into the tissues, for it seems to be beyond 

 question that the saprolci /nia is one of these parasites that 

 causes tissue destruction, as I have seen in numerous in- 

 stances the gradual extension of the velvety carpeting of 

 hyphee branches, from some minute wound on one side of the 

 body of an animal, until the entire body was girdled. By 

 taking the animal in band early, and, in case there is no serious 

 wound to be aggravated by the salt, by using a strong solu- 

 tion and using it for a short time, and often, it seems to me 

 that salt may be a valuable agent in the hands of those who 

 wish to rid their aquaria or their hatcberies of what is often 

 an intolerable pest. And above all must it be borne in mind, 

 that when water is used that comes from rivers and lakes, 

 like the Croton water of New York city, no matter how clear 

 of fungus they may get their tanks or aquaria, the spores are 

 in the water, and any wounds in the fishes or decaying or dead 

 matter which may at anytime afterward get into the water 

 offer fertile fields for renewed growths, which can only be 

 disposed of by a new resort to the salt wash. 



THE OHIO COMMISSION.— We have the eighth annual 

 report of the Fish Commission of Ohio. It opens with an 

 account of the first breeding of fish in America by Dr. Garlick 

 and Prof. Acfeley. Sixty mdhon whitefish eggs were in the 

 hatcheries at Toledo and Sandusky at the time when the re- 

 port was written. It is thought that the eegs of the black 

 bass can be taken and hatched and better results obtained 

 than when the fish are left to do their own spawning. The 

 game question is touched upon and it is recommended that 

 all duck shooting in the spring of the year should be stopped 

 and also that no amendment to the game laws be acted upon 

 until the same has been considered by, and reported to, tbe 

 Fish Commission by the Fish and Game Committe. An ex- 

 cellent showing of work is made in the tables which give the 

 numbers and places of the distribution of fry, in which, by 

 the wav, the pike-perch is miscalled "jack salmon." Extracts 

 from Henshall's "Rook of the Black Bass" are given to show 

 that there are two species, but sad work is made of names and 

 technical terms in- the nomenclature, due to careless proof 

 reading. Prof. Charles Dury contributes an article on the 

 late Fisheries Exhibition at London; and Mr. C. W. Smiley 

 one on the carp. 



^nnwtrji to (^<mtB$ondmt§. 



» 



IW No Notice Taken of Anonymous Correspondents. 



G. A. C, Canton, Mo.— Your gun is of English make. 



C. 0., Elmira, New York.— The recipe was given in our issue of Feb. 

 38, 1884. 



W. A. B., Portland. Me.— Wo think that there was such an article, 

 but are unable to find it. 



J. H. S. — Will you please inform me how to raise young crows? 

 Ans. Feed them as you would chickens. 



W. A., Bay View, Wis.— 1, Some people eat red -winged blackbirds. 

 2. The use of the grease in gun wads is as a lubricant. 



G. L. O., Boston, Mass.— 1. The measure of shotgun bores is an 

 arbitrary one. 2. For rifles see our advertising columns. 



Reader, New York.— We advise you to take your gun (for polishing 

 the stock) to a gunsmith. Have written you at address given. 



Yankee. — The name Manitoba is pronounced with the accent on 

 the last syllable, Manito-ba, the final a having the sound of a in 

 father. 



B. F. F., New York.— Where can the most profitable hennery be seen 

 near this city i Ans. Ask some of the Washington Market poultry 

 dealers. 



J. H. R., Pottsville.— Where is a good place for camping out in 

 Pennsylvania? Ans. Go to the headwaters of the Sinnemahoning in 

 Tioga county, Pa. 



I. S. W., Providence.— Is the book "W T ing-Shooting (advertised in 

 your book list, by "Chipmunk") the same as published by T. G, Davey, 

 Ontario, which formerly sold at $1.00? Ans. Yes. 



R. F. B., Troy, N. Y— We can supply you with a copy of Babcock's 

 compilation of the New York game laws, price, 25 cents. The law 

 permits killing of song birds to be used as natural history specimens. 



E. H. K., Elmira, N. Y.— The charge of 3 drams powder , 1 ounce 

 shot is better adapted to the 12-gauge gun than to the 10-gauge. To 

 determine which gun will give the better pattern and penetration 

 with that load, try them. 



C. W. S., Hudson, N. Y.— 1. The open season for wildfowl in this 

 State is from Sept. 1 to May 1. 2. Song birds may be shot for natural 

 history purposes. Game birds may not be captured, save in the open 

 seasons prescribed by law. 



Mac, Harrisville, Mich.— Which English weekly paper gives the 

 best English rifle news, scores and general rifle matters? Ans. 

 Volunteer Service Gazette, 121 Fleet street, London. Subscription 

 price about $5 we presume. 



J. M. E.— Your correspondent "J. M. E.," May 15, 1884, would prob- 

 ably find the "Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United 

 States," etc., by 1). S. Jordan, Jansen, McClurg & Co., publishers, 

 price $2.25, of considerable utility.— W. H. S. 



H. L. C, Cleveland. O.— The "Adirondack cottages for the cure of 

 ah pulmonary diseases" are at Saranac Lake. Write to Dr. E. L. 

 Trudeau, at that place. We understand that the institution is en- 

 dowed and the expeuses of patients are light. 



W. C. M., New York.— I wish to use the star wads to save the 

 trouble of crimping my shells, but it has been suggested to me that 

 they would be likely to scratch the gun barrels. I use a choke-bore, 

 W T iU you kindly give me your opinion on the. subject? Ans. They 

 will not scratch the gun barrels, 



D. F. E., Boston, Mass.— We cannot tell you where you will find 

 "good partridge and duck shooting with deer and good fishing, within 

 2U0 miles ot New York." There are few favored spots where one can 

 kill all sorts of game at a single shot. For ruffed grouse try the 

 interior of Connecticut. For deer, go to Maine or the Adironciaeks. 

 For ducks, try the south side of Long Island. 



G. C, Worcester, Mass.— Where can I get a pocket map of Hancock 

 and Washington counties? Ans. There is a Hancock county in each 

 of these States: Ga., 111., Ind.. Iowa, Ky., Me., Miss., Ohio, Tenn. 

 and W. Va. ; and a Washington county in Ala., Ark., D. C. Fla„ Ga., 

 Idaho, 111., Ind., Iowa, Kan., Ky., La., Me., Md., Minn., Miss , Mo., 

 Neb., N, Y., N. C, Ohio, Or., Pa., R. L, Tenn., Texas, Utah, vt., Va. 

 and Wis. Which State or Territory do you refer to? 



W. G.— If my question is not prompted by stupidity will you kindly 

 answer whence are the terms No. 10 gauge, No. 12 gauge, etc., as ap- 

 plied to the caliber of shotguns. Ans. The numbers were originally 

 used to denote the size of tbe bore by stating the size of the ball 

 adapted to it, and the ball was designated by the number required to 

 make a pound. Thus, a 10-bore was a gun which would receive a 

 leaden ball 10 of which would weigh one pound, or, as it was said, 

 would run 10 to the pound. 



B. B., Boston.— 1, Where could I buy a first-class male donkey 

 (for mule raising) and what would bo about the cost? 2. Where are 

 the principal mule farms in this country? Do you know of any in 

 theneignborhood? 3. Would you consider the South Carolina coast 

 a good place for mule raising? Ans. 1. Probably no jack suitable lor 

 your purpose in this neighborhood. A good one would probably 

 cost you anywhere from $500 to $1,000, Write to Graham & Grannis, 

 Poplar Plaius, Ky. 2. Principal mule farms in Kentucky and Missouri. 

 We know of none in this vicinity. 3. It would be an experiment. 



Amateue.— Wortendyke, N. J.— Yesterday, while taking a walk, 

 I found two birds under a pear tree on their backs. One was dead, 

 and the other, although its toes were turned up, seemed all right. 

 There are no marks ot shot on either, and I cannot account for their 



Erostration unless it was the result of a fight. I can find no one about 

 ere remembers having ever seen a bird like it. I have the live bird 

 and I mail you the other. Please inform me what it is. Can you offer 

 auy explanation of their position as I found them? Ans. The bird is 

 the cedar bird or cherry bird (Amprfiscedrorvm), awidely distributed 

 and abundant species, which breeds with us in suumier and also often 

 spends the winter here. We cannot account for the position of the 

 birds. 



