Feb. 7. 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



49 



The sand launch, or rant, are very numerous and wide- 

 spread, one species extending above the Arctic Circle in 

 summer. These little fishes constitute a large part, of the 

 food of corl, salmon and other valuable specie?; they are 

 in great demand also for bait. 



The pike (Esosc lueius) is a very common inhabitant of 

 the Alaskan lnkes. and grows to alargp size. An ex- 

 ample measuring 89ln, was taken in July, 1387. We have 

 it from the Biistol Bay region, the Yukon basin, and 

 north to the Kowak, a tributary of Hot) mm Inlet. It is 

 regarded as a very good food fish, although in northern 

 Alaska it is fed principally to dogs. Curiously enough 

 Mr. Fisher has found ibe pike on Kodiik Island, where 

 it must ha ve been resident before Shellikoff Strait formed 

 a sepaiation from the mainland a nrl set, up a barrier to 

 the movements of the fresh- water fUhes. 



The singular little blackfish form* a family of its own, 

 the Dall'idce. It exi-ts in countless multitudes in the 

 fresh water lagoon?, and is one of the rno^t valuable 

 fishes to the native.*. We have specimens from the Bristol 

 Bav regioa and the vicinity of Sc. Michael*. Nordens- 

 kjold found it at Port Clirence and als3 in Siberia. 

 Hundreds of tons of this palatable fish are eaten annu- 

 ally. 



The smelts are well distributed aod very abundant, the 

 true smelts (Osmerus) occurring only in Behring Sea and 

 northward. Tney aie eaten both fresh and dried, and 

 cont-titute an important part of the food supply. The 

 surf smelt (Hypomesm pretiosus) so called because of its 

 habit of spawning in the surf, appears to be limited to 

 the Gulf of Alaska, from whence it extends southward 

 to Sin Francisco Bay. A smaller species of the same 

 genus has the peculiarity of spawning in fresh-water 

 ponds and is more northerly in its distribution, reaching 

 Kotzebue Sound on the American shores and Kamt- 

 chatka on the west. The capelin is identical with ours 

 a d is quite as abundant and valuable; it finds its way 

 pround the shores every wheie, the young swarming in 

 Plover Bay and on the east side of Behring Strait in suin- 

 mier; we took it at 0<pe Lisburae in August. In Cook's 

 Inkt. early in Julv, the salmon were feeding greedily on 

 c^elin, and near Kodiak we found the cod gorged with 

 the same delicate food. The eulachon or candle fish, so 

 named because the dried fish wi'l burn like a torch, is 

 one of the best known th-hes of Alaska, but it seems not 

 to occur at all in Behring Sea. Southward it extends to 

 the Columbia River. This fish is about equal to the 

 smelt in size and resembles it in general appearance. 

 Ascending the streams in dense masses, it is caught in 

 immense quantities and utilized fresh or dried. As a 

 pan fish it is said to be delicious. On the west shore of 

 Shellikcff Strait, at Katmai, something is done in the 

 way of i-alting eulachon and the product is sold at Kodiak. 

 where it is greatly esteemed. Eulachon fat is used 

 instead of butter by the Indians, and as a substitute for 

 cod liver oil by some of the druggists of the West Coast. 



The whitefishes abound in Alaska and enter very largely 

 into the food supply of the natives. One small species, 

 the round whitefish, occurs on Kodiak Inland, the south- 

 ern limit, I believe, of Coregonus in the Territory. The 

 largest of the species has some resemblance to the com- 

 mon whitefish of the Great Lakes, but has a much 

 smaller head and longer body; this one ranges northward 

 to Point Barrow, and rivals cur commercial whitefish in 

 size and flavor. The smallest seldom exceeds one pound 

 in weighc, and is little used by white people, but exten- 

 sively by natives and their dogs; it is somewhat unusual 

 to meet a traveling party along the shore that has not 

 several bunches of this bony species. Nelson's humpback 

 whitefish is larger than the last, but scarcely more valu- 

 able except for dog food; it appears to be most common 

 from the Yukon northward. The round whitefish, not- 

 withstanding its small size, is a very valuable addition to 

 the food resources of the country; it extends entirely 

 p cross the northern part of America, reaching New Eng- 

 land and Kodiak on the south; tome authors state that it 

 enters the Arctic Ocean. The Lauretta whitefish is an- 

 other small species, not often exceeding 3 lbs. in weight; 

 it is the prevailing whitefish in the far north, being- 

 common at Point Barrow. Related to the whitefi-ihes is 

 the great inconnu of the voyageurs — one of the largest 

 and finest of the food species of Alaska — known to reach 

 a length of 4ft. and a weight of 50lb<. It may be known 

 by ics enormous size, strongly projecting lower jaw and 

 its elegant silvery body. Frequenting the large rivers 

 most of the year, from the Kuskoquim to the Kowak, it 

 is most abundant and in its finest condition in midsum- 

 mer ; at the close of the spawning seaoon in January it 

 disappears. 



Tne grayling is one of the handsomest fishes in the fresh 

 waters, and in the spring, which is the season of its 

 greatest abundance, it is much valued as food. Dal I 

 mentions it as the only fish in northern. Alaska that will 

 take the hook, meaning, of course, in fresh waters; we 

 should fully expect, however, to take the pike and trout 

 in that way. We can trace the grayling now as far as 

 Kowak and 'eastward to the Mackenzie. 



Alaska is famous for its big trout, and they are plenti- 

 ful enough to satisfy the most exacting. Three black 

 spotted species occur, one of them, the rainbow, once 

 taken near Sitka. Clark's trout, or the red-throated, is 

 abundant and grows very large. We cannot define its 

 northern limit with accuracy, but there is no evidence 

 yet of its occurrence far beyond Unalashka. Gairdnere 

 trout, the ah-shut of the Sitkans, certainly ranges further 

 northward, McKay having found it in the Bristol Bay 

 region. We found ripe females of this species at Sitka m 

 June, and. were struck at the time by their similarity to 

 the Kennebec salmon — a resemblance which some dealers 

 are turning to their pecuniary advantage at the present 

 date. The Dolly Varden becomes so large and is so numer- 

 ous that it forms a staple article of commerce in the sea- 

 run condition under the name of salmon trout. At Kodiak 

 and elsewhere it is extensively packed in brine for ship- 

 ment to California. Tois trout is one of the great 

 travelers, and is known to occur in the Colville, the 

 Mackenzie and eastward to the Saskatchewan: southward 

 it dwells in the McCloud. In northern Alaska the na- 

 tives prepaiethe skin of this charr to be made into water- 

 proof olcthing. The same species is taken plentifully in 

 Plover Bay, Siberia, and also in Kamtchatka. The lake 

 trout, namaycush, abounds in the headwattrs of the 

 Yukon, principally in the lakes, and in the sources of the 

 Kowak; specimens measuring thirty inches in length 

 have recently been caught. The color of Alaskan in- 

 dividuals is darker than the average specimen from 

 Eastern waters, but there are no important differences to 



separate them. This trout seems to be unlike all others 

 in America and the Old World. Its teeth and its exces- 

 sively large number of appendages near the end of the 

 stomach cause it to stand out alone from its relatives and 

 give it a unique character. Its range is very wide, both 

 in latitude and longitude, covering as it does the whole 

 northern portion of America, and extending south to 

 Idaho and New York. Tarleton H. Bean. 



[TO BE CONTINUED.] 



A MYSTERIOUS MILLPOND MONSTER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Early in September last there was taken from a small 

 sawmill pond of only three or four acres, in the town of 

 Shirley. Mass., a fish which weighed ItMlbs. ''What is 

 it?" inquired every one who saw it, but none could give a 

 satisfactory answer. No oue had ever seen anything lib e 

 it. Calvin N. Fame worth, the owner of the sawmill and 

 pond, himself an expert fisherman, in fact, most of the 

 people who saw the fish, presumed it to he a Hack 

 bass (M'croptterus dolomiei) or common sucker (Catosto- 

 mus teres). But no one had ever heai d of a black bass 

 weighing over 7 or 81bs., and 3ibs. would be a large 

 sucker to be caught anywhere in eastern New England. 

 Hearing the "fish story." I became interested and deter- 

 mined to ascertain the' facts. The pond was visited and 

 such items of interest as could be gleaned from the cap- 

 tor and his neighbors were obtained. 



The owner of the pond, some eight years ago, caught 

 in a small pond, the outlet to Fort poud, in Lancaster, an 

 adjoining town, some shiners for pickerel fishing through 

 the ice. Among the minnows so caught were a good 

 many of what he called black suckers. Possibly, as he 

 was not familiar with black bass, and since they had 

 been planted in that neighborhood, the little odd looking 

 fish may have been of that species. However, he took 

 them all along together, and when he had finished fish- 

 ing, in the following spring, a goodly number of the bait 

 were left on hand, which, for s»fe keeping, he turned 

 into his millpond. Some years afterward he observed an 

 odd fish wandering about his pond. The fish grew, as 

 did also his curiosity. Years passed rapidly by, and the 

 monster fish — for such it had come to be — attracted the 

 attention of others. The news spread from town to town, 

 and numbers of people from Lowell and other places 

 came to see it. The pond was so small that the fish could 

 be seen on almost any day. No one of the visitors had, 

 however, attempted to identify it as belonging to any 

 group of fishes known to them. Curiosity ran so high 

 that the owner had reason to believe that an attempt 

 would be made to seize and carry off the prize. All 

 attempts to catch it with hook and line had failed, even 

 when the most tempting bails were offered. One day, as 

 the monster was lying in shoal water near his mill, the 

 owner took his rifle and shot a ball through the fish near 

 the base of the pectoral fin. The huge thing was secured 

 and shown to some of the neighbors, who were surprised 

 that so large a fish should grow in so small a pond, and 

 the question still was "What is it?"' 



Mr. Farnsvvorth and others thought it must be the out- 

 come of the shiners deposited in the pond eight years be- 

 fore. The shape of the mouth, the decurved nose, the 

 absence of teeth, its refusal to take bait, all pointed to 

 the sucker family. The depth of body, large scabs and 

 spinous dorsal fin would seem to place it with the ba>s 

 family. But then, bass have sharp teeth in both jaws. 

 The specimen before them had none. The sucker has an 

 elongated body and soft rays. The present example had 

 a very broad body somewhat like a croppie or sheep- 

 head, and in the absence of a little scientific knowledge, 

 much wrangling ensued. At length, the fish was cut 

 up, distributed, cooked and eaten. A cross siction was 

 sent to Edwin L. White, a very reliable and intelligent 

 man, though not well up in piscatory matters. He did 

 not attempt t classify the fish, but the enormous size of 

 the section, 28in. in circumference, provoked a desire to 

 know more of the monster. He at once set about the 

 investigation with the following result: Literal line, 

 body lying on a board, 26^in,; dorsal line, end of nose to 

 end of tail, 31 in.: depth of body, 10in.; width, 5in.; 

 girth 28in.; caudal fin extended, llin.; scales, Sin. long. 

 He had the good fortune to re: cue from the frying pan 

 some portions of the skeleton, which were carefully pre- 

 served and kindly lent to the writer for identification. 

 The fragments were submitted to Professor Putnam of 

 the Peabody Institute, and also a member of the Board 

 of Fish Commissioners for Massachusetts, and to Curator 

 Samuel Garman of the Agassiz Museum, Harvard C d- 

 Jege. They both on seeing the pharyngeal bones with 

 teeth attached, identified it as belonging to one of the carp 

 f ami 1 y . To quote from Pope : 



"The thing we know is neither rich nor rare,. 

 Bnt wonder how the devil it got there," 



Mr. Garman became very much interested and deter- 

 mined to find out where the carp came from. Carp had 

 been planted in Plymouth, N. H,,and in other waters 

 tributary to the Menimac, but how could one of these 

 small fry stiay away so far and get up over a twelve-foot 

 dam? He was, however, untiring in his effotts and had 

 the satisfaction of seeing his labors crowned with proba- 

 ble success, He discovered that a gentleman re-iding in 

 Lunenburg, the next town above Shirley, had stocked a 

 little pond on his premises with carp (Cyprmus earpio). 

 There was a great fever about that time for impoiting 

 this species from Europe. Great effort was made to culti- 

 vate them in this country, we think much beyond their 

 merit gastronomically speaking. While it attains an im- 

 mense size, possibly to nearly a hundred pounds, yet the 

 edible quality is very low. In central Europe where fish 

 are scarce, carp are eaten by the lower classes to some ex- 

 tent, but we do not remember any where on the continent 

 having seen carp served in a first-class hotel. Suckers 

 are sometimes eaten in this country, but are not. we 

 believe, regarded by any class as a luxury. Those who 

 partook of the monster above referred 'to did not, we 

 understand, pronounce it as possessing fine flrvor. But 

 the little pond, which is on one of the affluents of Mulpus 

 Brook, the stream tint supplies the pond which was the 

 habitat of our hero, was stocked with twenty of the carp 

 some eight years ago, The next season was a dry one 

 and the pond nearly disappeared. The owner, to save 

 his carp, attempted to remove them to a larger pend, but 

 to his surprise could find but four remaining. The others 

 had probably died or gone down the little stream. It is 



now believed that the monster above described was ouo 

 of the escaped convicts from the Lunenburg prison. 

 Boston, Jan. 33. W. HAPGOOD. 



[Mr. Hapgood deserves credit for having solved the 

 question of the fish's identity. While we do not consider 

 the carp one of the best fish in the Uni ed Slates, we are 

 by no means willing to admit that it is suitable for and 

 relished by none but the lower clause;'. Some very nice 

 people in Germany, the United States and some other 

 countries rear the carp and profess to enjoy eating it. 

 We-have in mind a very successful exep grower near 

 Covington, Ky., who has ample supplies of bass, wall- 

 eyed pike, crappie and other game fishes in his ponds, 

 and yet he rats carp frequently and says they are good} 

 but he never takes them out of muddy water and hurries 

 them at once to he cleaned for the table; they are always 

 kept a few days in pure cool wafer before they are killed. 

 We have eaten earn taken from a river and really liked 

 them. Much rf the blame attached to this fLh really 

 belongs to its surroundings. 



WHAT A GOOD TIME JIM HAD, 



Y\7 E had just finished nuK dinner when Jim came pad- 

 t * dling across the lake in an old dugout th it I knew 

 had been condemned twenty years before, using a piece 

 of board for a paddle. The craf o was half full of water, 

 and every now and then, as she drew nearer, we could 

 see Jim trying to shovel some of it out with his extem- 

 porized paddle. When he came within speaking dis- 

 tance some one hailed him: "Well, Jim, what kind of a 

 time have you had?" 



' Just splendid." 



"Get anything?" 



"Two beaut'es and s-mie little ones." 



Jim came ashore and.showed his string of fish, two of 

 about a pound and a half each and five or six of about 

 half a pound. 



"I tell you, fellows, I have had great sport. Wouldn't 

 have missed it for anything." 



"You look as if you had got wet." 



"Well, you know that big boulder down in the second 

 rapid? I was just trying to wade out to it, and I stepped 

 on one of those round, slippery stones and down I went. 

 Swashed me away into the pool, the current did. 1 

 think I must have rolled over a dozen times. Held on to 

 my rod, though." 



The magenta of Jim's necktie had evidently parted 

 with a good share of its coloring matter in favor of his 

 white flanml tennis suit, 



"Where's your hat?" 



"I lost it in the rapids." • 



"How did you get your trousers so torn?" 



"Got my flies caught in a tree and had to shin up to 

 get 'era loose. Coming down I slipped and tore my 

 trousers and scratched my leg. I say ; have any of you 

 fellows got any sticking planter?" 



"How did you manage to break both your tips?" 



"Broke one when I fell in the rapid-*. Broke the other 

 just before I came away. Hooked a big fellow in strong 

 water and struck him too hard. Smashed my tip and 

 lo-t my flies." 



"Whose rod is it. anyway?" 



"Belongs to my mother Jack. He lent it to me. That 

 is, he said I might take it if I would promise to be care- 

 ful of it. Jack '11 be mad as a hatter, sure." 



"Lose all your flies?" 



"Eveiy blamed one." 



"About time you came away, wasn't it?" 



"I'd have staj ed longer if I hadn't broken my rod and 

 if I'd had some more flies. 1 say, Cook, is there any soup, 

 left? Dick, old man, lend me a pair of trousers, will you? 

 And a shirt. And some kind of a hat. How much sack- 

 ing plaster? Oh, about six inches long and two inches 

 wide. Blistered my hands, to \ paddling that confounded 

 water-logged old dugout. Scarlet fever in my nose? 

 Well, it was rather hot in the sun after I lost my hat. 

 Broke my bottle of fly fluid and cut my fingers with a 

 bit of the gbiss. Expect I'll look to-morrow as if 1 were 

 ju*t getting over the snnllpox. Never mind, it's my last 

 chance this season. Cook, come now, hurry up that soup, 

 will you? Bean ? Yes, lots of 'em and plenty of pork. 

 Fry a c tuple of troui? No, can't wait. Haven't you got 

 some cold ones left over? Only three? Well, bring 'em 

 along. Holy smoke! I never had so good a time m my 

 life. I say, Tom, lend me your rod this afternoon, will 

 you? 1 know there must be another big fellow just where 

 I hooked that last one. I'd like to take him home to-mor- 

 row, only to show the boys what fun there is up here." 



So Jim, with the appetite a:cumulated from 4 A. M. to 

 1 P. M., ate up all the cooked provisions in the camp, 

 borrowed dry clothes and a rod (for nobody ever refused 

 to lend Jim anything) and went out ju-t before sunset 

 and caught the big trout and went home to show the 

 other fellows what a good time he had had. If he forgot 

 to say that he had tumbled into the rapids, lost his hat, 

 scrapei six square inches of skin off his leg, broken a 

 borrowed rod, lost all his flies, been eaten up by mosqui- 

 toes, got his face burned to a crisp, his fingers cut and 

 his hands blistered, it was because such trifling mishaps 

 detract so little from the pleasures of an outing among 

 trout streams, G. de Montauban. 



Quebec 



Michigan Fisn Law.— The Michigan Fish Commis- 

 sionershavepreparedabill, submitted to the Legislature, 

 which prohibits catching speckled trout or landlocked 

 salmon from Sept. 1 to May 1, and the catching of gray- 

 ling or California trout from Nov. 1 to June 1. But the 

 State Board of Fi-h Commissioners may give written 

 permits to any person tofishfrra limited time. The 

 fine for violations of this section is from twenty-five dol- 

 lars to one hundred dollars, or imprisonment up to thirty 

 days or both. The bill fui ther makes it unlawful to kill 

 or attempt to kill fish with dynamite or Indian c cklr, or 

 any means employed to stupefy lish. It prohibits spear- 

 ing or catching with nets during March, April, May, June 

 September and October, except iu the Great Lakes and 

 the rivers connecting them, and forbids t'*e killing of 

 speckled trout, landl eked salmon, California trout or 

 grayling, except with hook and line. The hook and line 

 provisions cover the S . C.air P.iver and fl <ts tl o. Nets 

 may be used to catch minnows for bait. Fish slocked in 

 lakes by the Commission may not be taken until three 

 years after such planting, and hook fish in streams can- 

 not be taken if less than six inches long. 



