Bhinck and my fly book, lie peaceably together. So may it 
be with the fresh-water and the salt-water anglers. 
OP IT ho! i 
| Bosron, Mass., Aug. 6, 1884, 
[Should not Mr. Isaac McLellan have the credit of author- 
ship of the verses quoted? A note in Mr. Scott’s preface ap- 
_ pears to intimate this. ] 
THE FISH-EATING BLADDERWORT,. 
[* OUR issue of July 24, we published a communication 
from Mr. R. E. Barll, of the U. 8. Fish Commission, on 
this subject, in which he described the plant and stated that 
Prot, Baird had received specimens from Prof. H. N. Mose- 
ley, of Oxford University. We add the following description 
by the discoyerer, G. EH. Simms, Jr., as given in the London 
Hishing Gazette: - 
“T have recently discovered among the aquatic weeds 
placed in my aquarium, where J haye also a large number of 
newly-hatched perch and roach, a novel and unexpected 
enemy to the pisciculturist in the bladder traps of Utricularia 
vulgaris, which its capable of catching and killing young fry, 
My attention was first drawn to it by observing that some of 
the tiny fish, without any apparent cause, were lying dead 
on the weeds, while the rest of the brood looked perfectly 
healthy and in’ good condition. At first 1 was somewhat 
_ puzzled at the strange position in which they were lying, 
and in trying to move one with a small twig I was still more 
surprised to find’it was held fast by the head, in what I 
thought, when I pulled the plant from the water, were the 
seed vessels, and a still closer examination revealed the 
strange fact that others of the little fish had been trapped by 
the tail, and in one or two instances the bead and tail of the 
same fish had been swallowed by adjacent bladders, thus 
forming with its body a connecting bar between the two. I 
placed one or two good specimens in a glass jar and went to 
the Museum, where I was fortunate enouch to see Professor 
Moseley, who immediately verified my suspicions. 
‘According to ‘Bentham’s Handbook of British Flowering 
Plants,’ the Utricularia vulgaris, or greater bladderwort, is 
widely distributed over Britain, and although it is local, yet 
where it is fuund it grows luxurianitly, seldom appearing in 
the rivers, but chiefly confining its presence to still ponds 
and deep ditches, the places where it is most likely to work 
mischief to the young fry. A peculiar fact in connection 
"with it is that it has no roots at any time of its life, and the 
floating root-like branches which are covered with numer- 
ous capillary and much divided leaves are interspersed with 
tiny green vesicles, which were supposed by a former school 
of botanists to be filled with water, by which means the 
plant was kept at the bottom until the time of flowering, 
when the water gaye place to air, and the plant then rose to 
the surface to allow its bloom to expand. Asa matter of 
fact, these vesicles exercised no such function, their real 
work being to entrap minute crustaceans, worms, larvee, 
etc., for its support, and without a good supply of which it 
is impossible to keep it alive in an aquarium. Their form is 
that of a flattened ovoid sac, or, in other words, when seen 
under a low-power microscope, they are precisely like a 
human stomach, and they are attached at their binder ex- 
tremilles each by a very short and fine pedicle or foot-stalk 
in the axil of the leaves. Each, too, has an opening at the 
opposite free extremity, somewhat quadrangular in outline, 
fyom either side of which project two branched processes, 
called by Mr. Darwin antennz, In fact, | do not suppose 
they could have received a more appropriate name, because 
in appearance the whole bladder intimately resembles an en- 
tomostracan crustacean, the short foot-stalk representing the 
tail. 
“On either side of the quadrangular entrance several long 
bristles project outward, and these bristles, together with the 
branches of the antenne, form a hollow cone surrounding 
the entrance, which there cannot be the slightest doubt act 
as a guide for the prey toward it, The entrance is closed by 
a valve, which beivg attached above slopes into the cavity 
of the biadder, and is attached to it on all sides except at its 
posterior or lower margin, which is free, and forms one side 
of the slit-like opening leading into the bladder. Differing 
“materially from the color of the bladder itself, which is of a 
brilliant green, the valve is colorless and transparent, and is 
extremely flexible and elastic. 
“Animals enter the bladders by bending inward the pos- 
terior free edge of the valve, which, from being highly elas- 
tie, shuts again immediately. The edge is extremely thin 
and fits closely against the edge of the collar, both project- 
ing into the bladder, and it is extremely difficult, if not im- 
possible, for any animal to escape, although I have observed 
a long worm to do so at the expense of a part of his body; 
ye as a rule, it is a case of ‘all who enter here lose hope.’ 
o show how closely the edge fits, it was found that a 
daphnia, which had inserted its antennie into the slit, was 
held fast a whole day, and on other occasions long narrow 
lary, both dead and alive, were seen wedged between the 
valve and the collar, with their bodies half in and half out 
of the vesicle. When a fish is caught, the head is usually 
pushed as far into the bladder as possible, till the snout 
touches the hinder wall, The two black eyes of the fish 
then show out conspicuously through the wall of the bladder. 
“So far as is Known, there is no digestive process in 
Utricularia, neither is there any sensibility or irritation. 
Mr. Darwin was unable to detect either, his opinion being 
that whatever nutriment the plant obtained from its prey 
_ was by absorption of the decaying matter, and it would ap- 
pear that the longer of the two pairs of projections compos 
ing the quadrifid processes by which the vesicles are lined, 
which project obliquely inward and toward the end of the 
bladder, acts, tegether with the spring valves at the mouth 
of the bladder, in utilizing each fresh struggle of the cap- 
tive for the purpose of pushing it further inward. 
“Of its destructive powers all I can say is that out of 150 
newly hatched perch placed in a glass vessel only one or two 
were alive two days subsequently, and I hope in a few days 
fo be in a position to speak of its powers en natura.” 
Professor Moseley writes: '‘Mr. Simms supplied me with 
_ afresh specimen of Utrieularta in a vessel with fresh young 
fish and spawn, and in about six hours more than a dozen ot 
the fish were found entrapped. Most are caught by the 
hhead, and when this is the case the head is usually pushed as 
_ far into the bladder as possible till the snout touches its 
hinder wall. The two dark black eyes of the fish then show 
out conspicuously through the wall of the bladder. Rarely 
a specimen is seen caught only by the tip of the snout, By 
no meansafew of the fish are, however, captured by the 
dail, which is swallowed, so to speak, to a greater or less dis- 
tance, and | haye one specimen in which the fish is caught 
by the yelk sac. Three or four instances were observed in 
which a fish had its head swallowed by one bladdet-trap and 
its tail by another adjacent one, the body of the fish forming 
a connecting bar between the two bladders, 
‘I have not been able to see a fish in the actual process of 
being trapped, nor to find one recently caught, and showing 
by motion of the forepart of its body signs of life. All 
those trapped were found already dead, but I have had no 
opportunity of prolonged observation, and it will be remem- 
bered that Mr. Darwin, in his account of the trapping of 
crustacea, worms, ecte., by Utricularia, states that he was 
not able to observe the actual occurrence of the trapping of an 
animal, although Mrs, Treat, of New Jersey, often did so. 
I think it probable that the fact described by Mr. Darwin, 
and which is easily verified, that the longer of the two pairs 
of projections composing the quadrifid processes by which 
the bladders of (/trzcularia are lined ‘project obliquely in- 
ward and toward the posterior end of the bladder,’ has 
something to do with mechanism by which the small fish 
beccme so deeply swallowed, so to speak. The oblique pro- 
cesses, set all toward the hinder end of the bladder, look as 
if they must act together with the spring valyes of the mouth 
of the bladder in utilizing each fresh struggle of the captive 
for the purpose of pushing it further and further inward. 
On cutting open longitudinally some of the bladders con- 
taining the heads and foreparts of the bodies of fish and 
examining their contents, 1 found the tissues of the fish in a 
more or less slimy, deliquescent condition, no doubt from de- 
decomposition, for Mr. Darwin failed to detect any digestive 
process in Utricularia. The quadrifid processes were bathed 
in the slimy semi-fluid animal substance, and the processes 
themselves appeared to contain abundanee of fine granular 
matter, possibly the result of absorption, but the large quan- 
tity of surrounding animal matter present rendered the ob- 
servation uncertain, The usual swarms of infusoria were 
present in the decomposing matter. 
“Specimens of the Utriealaria with the little fish fast in 
the bladder-trap, and their heads or tails hapging out, can 
be well preserved in spirits, and show the conditions well, 
notwithstanding that the plant becomes colorless, and there 
is no Jonger the marked contrast between the glistening 
white dead fish and the green bladders, which in the fresh 
condition renders the combination of the trap and prey con- 
spicuous. 
“T found that a certain residual number of a certain batch 
of young fish remained weeks with the weed untrapped, 
either because the weed is only able to catch them when the 
weather is warm or because they learn by experience (im- 
possible) or because the plant soon loses its activity in con- 
finement (7), Othcr cxperiments seem to show that possibly 
one certain species of young fish get caught. 
“Tsee Asa Gray in his manual refers to Var. Americana 
as most common in the United States, but no doubt the two 
varieties will act alike as to young fish, I have not found 
any cog Ot a young fish already trapped by any specimen 
of the Utricularia taken from the pond in which it srows 
here, although there are many fish in the pond,” 5 
Specimens of the entrapped fish were received from Pro- 
fessor Moseley by the United States Fish Commission June 
9, and are deposited in the National Museum. The Utrieu 
laria is a large rootless, water plant, which floats freely in 
the water. Its leayes bear the small bladders which entrap 
the fish fry. Mr. C. W. Smiley says: ‘‘Eleven species are 
enumerated in the ‘Fish Commission Bulletin,’ 1883, p. 260, 
as useful in carp ponds. While these dv not include the 
vulgaris, it is probable that some of these may have the same 
ability to catch the small fish, In that event these plants 
must be excluded from carp ponds.” 
AMERICAN FOOD FISHES. 
NTI I read Dr. Henshall’s paper on ‘‘The Comparative 
Excellence of Food Fishes,” published in Fornst AnD 
Srream July 17, | never had met with anything on the sub- 
ject, though considering the general ignorance of it, such 
teaching has been much needed. People pay a dollar a 
pound for stale brook trout, whoily deyoid of flavor; white- 
fish are brought from the great lakes to New York on ice, 
equally valueless, and striped bass and bluefish are sold in 
the markets almost in a state of decay, the cunning dealers 
putting forth a theory that a bass, like a leg of mutton, 
should be ripened before it is eaten, Dr. Henshall, being 
ichthyologist, angler and fish lover, is well qualified for this 
work of instruction in fish food. 
J agree with Dr. Hensball in placing the whitefish of the 
Great Lakes (Coregonus sapidissimus Ag.) at the head of the 
list of fresh-water food fishes, and that those of Lake Supe- 
rior are the finest of this species. Like him, I have eaten 
them three times a day for weeks without being cloyed. 
This was at the Sault Ste. Marie, where the fish were taken 
from the rapids by the Indians with their dip nets and 
brought alive to the hotel kitchen. On the same table were 
usually brook trout, taken equally fresh from the same 
waters, and three persons out of four preferred the white- 
fish. But this delicacy of flavor evaporates in a few hours, 
and the whitefish of the markets of the lake cities generally, 
although a fairly good fish, is far inferior to those we get at 
Mackinac andthe Sault. I have even found tasteless and 
stale whitefish on the tables of the most pretentious of the 
Mackinac hotels, but memory recalls one house there forty 
years ago, the flavor of whose broils yet lingers on the 
alate. 
. My experience with brook tront also confirms the opinion 
of Dr, Henshall. Eaten fresh from the stream, it is one of 
the most delicate and finely flavored of fish; but it will not 
bear transportation without losing its finer qualities, and 
when twenty-four hours old it is, I think, inferior to the black 
bass under similar conditions. I have captured and eaten 
the brook trout from Massachusetts to Colorado and from 
Pennsylvania to Canada, and find it equally good Kast, West, 
North and South, in cold and pure waters. Some people 
maintain that only those trout which have access to salt 
water are perfect, but that is not my experience. 
As to the black bass, I haye eaten the large-mouthed 
species in Florida, und found it to compare fayorably on the 
table with the best salt-water fishes of that coast, which is a 
severe test. It appeared to me equal in quality to the small- 
mouthed black bass of the Great Lakes. The great depth, 
coldness and purity of the water of these lakes give to all 
their fish exceptional merit; even the sucker (Catosiomus), 
hardly eatable elsewhere, I have found in Lake Superior to 
be firm and well-flayored. I should rank the Great Lakes 
fishes as soliows: Whitefish, pike-perch, mascalonge, black 
bass, white bass, perch, blue catfish, Northern pike, lake 
trout. The siscowet I have never eaten, ; 
Dr. Henshall omits an-opinion upon the salmon. Having 
eaten it from Boston to the pools of the Restigouche, I found 
it to improve asl went north, Good in Boston, better in 
AQ 
Portland. So good in St. Johns, N. B., that I thought i t 
could not be better. At Dalhousie, on the Bay of Chaleurs, 
still improving. On the table at Frazer’s, at Matapediac, I 
fancied it had reached perfection, but when 1 tasted salmon 
in camp on the river bank, cooked by a fine old Irish gen- 
tleman in the Tweedside fashion, I felt that fortune had 
nothing more in store for me. 
With Dr. Henshall, I place the pompano at the head of 
the list of fishes. It seems to me to happily combine the rich- 
ness of the salmon with the delicacy of the whitefish, and to 
the earnest and appreciative ichthyophagist, to taste of this 
delicacy would repay him for the trouble of a visit to the 
Gulf Coast. I think that Dr, Henshall undervalues the sheeps- 
head of the Southern coast. Perhaps, however, he has eaten 
it in the last part of winter and the spring months, when the 
spawning process deprives it of the flavor and succulence 
which it posse:ses in fall and winter. So also with the red- 
fish or channel bass, which has its season of excellence, 
namely, the summer and fall, 
The red snapper, now often seen in the Northern markets, 
being a deep-water fish, keeps better than any other species, 
and is found in good condition several hundred miles in the 
interior, 
I do not observe that Dr, Henshall mentions the mullet of 
the Southern coast, which in the summer and autumn is by 
the coast people preferred to any other species. In winter, 
when those coasts are visited by Northern people,*the mullet 
is only valuable for bait. When fat, in summer, the mullet 
when salted makes the best substitute for the mackerel. 
It is a common error that the fishes of the Sonthern coast 
are inferior to those of the North. In fact there isa greater 
variety of valuable food fishes from Charleston to Cape 
Florida, than can be found north of that region, at least: 
that is my opinion, from some experience of both regions. 
_ Comparing the number of species of food and game fishes 
in the United States with those of Europe, our advantages in 
this respect appear to be remarkable. England for instance, 
where anglers and angling books most abound, has five or 
six species of the salmon family. We, in North America, 
have from twenty-five to fifty species, according to the 
naturalist you consult. The British islands have one pike; 
we have five or six. 
We have three pike-perches to none in Great Britain. We 
have a large family of basses; black, white, green, spotted 
and striped—all wanting there, except as imported from 
America. So with the catfishes, of which America seems to 
be the home. British anglers are obliged to occupy them- 
selves with species which with us are disregarded, or left to 
the boys—chub, bream, roach and dace, and their angling 
books contain long descriptions and full directions for the 
capture of these insignificant fishes. 5. C.C 
THE TRIBUTARIES OF THE OCONEE: . 
[ SPENT a week fishing, in June, on tributaries of Oconee 
River, about sixty-tive miles from Macon, in Montgom- 
ery county. We were invited to join Col. $., of Dublin, and 
in company with Mrs, §, and daughter, of Columbus, to- 
gether with Dr. H. VY. J., we spent a delightful week fishing 
for perch and bream. Leaving Dublin, June 3, about sun- 
rise, in two batteaux, we reached Troup Spring Lake in time 
to catch a string of fine perch for dinner; thence to mouth 
of Turkey Creek in time for camp and a supply of fish for 
supper and again for breakfast. Breaking camp next morn- 
ing, we ran down the river and reached Mercer Creekin time 
to make camp before night and to be ready for the bream 
next day. We had an abundant supply of this, the finest 
game and pan fish in the South, unless we exeept the bass. 
Mrs 5, and Miss M. §. are as fond of fishing and camp life 
as any ladies I ever met, and enjoyed very much our stay of 
one week on Mercer Creek. We anticipated some young 
ducks, as Col. 8, had some fine sport there last year; we were 
Spd) eta however, in that, as the ducks were later than 
usual, 
Mercer Creek has two mouths, and the lower one runs 
only in high water, and forms quite a deep lake or back 
water from the river, and in this we caught the fine bream 
and perch, Goy. G@. M. Troup owned property near this 
creek and was buried about three miles from its mouth. I 
passed in sight of his monument, and the rock used for in- 
closing if was blasted from the bluff overlying the river just 
below the mouth of Mercer Creek. Troup Spring Lake was 
named in honor of Goy. Troup, and was a favorite fishing 
place of his. This is a grand place for fall fishing, white 
perch and bass being very numerous. 
Gov. Troup lived in what we call the ‘‘wire grass” country, 
and in “‘ante-bellum” days lived in the common house of 
that day, a log house; but if was unusual, as it was plastered 
inside and had marble mantlepieces and Brussels ANS: 
Macon, Ga,, Aug. 6. 
PHImADELPHIA Notrs,—Aug. 9.—The porpoise fishing 
company at Cape May, N, J., has proved a success so far as 
the capture of these wary denizens of the deep is concerned. 
During the season many good catches were made whenever 
the trap was set and the fish were about. Your correspond- 
ent heard to-day of a movement to be made to utilize the 
flesh minus the fat for table use. Sturgeon may do, but 
porpoise mext—bah! Better use it to Inbricate the new 
cable motor railroad here. Bluefish have been rare thus far 
all throughout this summer. A few very small fish came in 
the inlet twice lately, but no large ones have shown them- 
selves. The white perch have begun to bite well at Better- 
ton, and the fish are of fair size. J would advise a post- 
ponement until September for those who propose going 
there. The fish will be of heavier weight then and most 
certainly finer. Mr. Jackson Johnson took a pickesel weigh- 
ing four pounds in the Delaware River, near the Water Gap, 
recently. This is large for that section,—Homo. 
A Micnigan CAMP Grounp.—Iron Mountain, Menominee 
County, Mich., Aug. § (Menominee River Branch R. R.).— 
This vicinity offers a splendid field for the sportsman, fish 
and game being plenty, Spread Bagle Lake is full of bass 
and pickerel, and some splendid catches have been made 
there this year, ranging from 40 to 200 pounds of fish, 
Trout can also be caught in the Brule and Michigamme 
riyers, besides many others near here. I caught 104 trout 
day before yesterday, weighing about 35 pounds, and could 
haye caught more if Lhad been able to carry them or had 
been a flytisherman. They jumped at sinkers nearly every 
time we dropped a hovk into the creek, Any reader of the 
FOREST AND STREAM that wishes information on this sub- 
ject—camping and hunting or fishing—will find me ready 
to give them every assistance in my power. Deer are plenty. 
—Ge«o, F, SELBERT. 
