OCT. 31, 1889.] 



289 



ROCK Hill is the correct name of the South Carolina 

 quail shooting resort to which reference ha* heen made 

 in these columns as Rocky IIiU. Landlord Howell Cobb, 

 of the Carolina Hotel, at Rock Hill, has published a pam- 

 phlet containing letters written by Northern sportsmen 

 who have found the quail shooting at Rock Hill a grand 

 success. 



Quail is Virginia.— Mr. R. E. Lewis, of the TJ. S. Fish 

 Commission, has just returned from Clarke county, Vir- 

 ginia, and informed us that quail are unusually abund- 

 ant. Fine shooting is to be expected when the open 

 season begins, Nov. 1. Rabbits are excessively common. 



"That reminds me." 

 884. 



IN my native town in Illinois some years ago lived Charlie 

 B., a bright, active boy 16 years old. He knew little 

 of country life and sports. His uncle, Capt. F., was a 

 thorough-going sportsman and a fine shot. The Captain 

 usually put in about two months each autumn and spring 

 shooting ducks along the Illinois River. One fall lie was 

 going up to Sena ch wine Lake for a month or two shoot- 

 ing, and he had Charlie come out to his farm to do chores 

 and look after the stock while he was away. When he 

 returned he found that Charlie had fallen in love with 

 country life. So Cap arranged with him to stay there 

 through the winter. Cap was keen after game of all 

 kinds, and was well prepared for it. He dearly loved to 

 shoot cottontail rabbit in winter in the open fields. For 

 this purpo-e he had a little dog named Scip, half shepherd, 

 the other half thoroughbred cur. Scip understood his 

 business thoroughly. He would generally run the rabbits 

 across in front of* Cap, when Cap would knock them 

 over "every time sometimes." The first morning that 

 there was "snow on the ground the trio started out for 

 rabbits, Charlie going along to carry the game and see 

 the sport. Scip worked beautifully and in a short time 

 Cap had knocked over six. He then had to go to town, 

 telling Charlie that any time he wished he could take out 

 the gun and learn to shoot. 



Charlie had enjoyed the sport greatly. Cap had knocked 

 over the rabbits so" cleverly and seemingly so easily that 

 he thought he could do it himself, and the more he thought 

 of it the more he wished to try. So after noon came he 

 took the gun, called Scip and started out in the field. 

 Soon Scip was greatly elated to have another run, and 

 did his part of the work beautifully. He quartered off 

 to the right and soon jumped a fine large cottontail, 

 which came crossing right in front of Charlie on the full 

 run. Charlie drew up the old gun, took deadly sure aim 

 on the running hare, shut both eyes and pulled trigger, 

 and killed poor Scip, who was about thirty feet behind 

 the hare. It was a fine shot, but hard on the dog. Cap 

 was notorious for loading his old nmzzteloader fearfully 

 heavy; when it went off this time it jumped up and hit 

 Charlie a fearful pelt on the nose, and sent him backward 

 into the snow. But Charlie had grit, he soon gathered 

 himself up; and with the blood streaming from both nos- 

 trils went staggering forward to bag his first head of 

 game. He loved Scip dearly, and knew that Cap did and 

 prized him highly , so did the whole family. Then we 

 may judge what was the poor boy's agony when, instead 

 of finding a fine fat dead rabbit, poor Scip lay stretched 

 lifeless on the snow. The boy sank right down on the 

 snow and cried like a baby. 



Now, it so happened that Cap was coming up the road 

 intent on an afternoon's hunt, and was in good seeing dis- 

 tance of the whole hunt. Cap loved Scip, but he loves a 

 rich joke, or we may say the funniest fun, better than 

 anything else; and he said the expressions arid changes 

 of poor Charlie's countenance, his blank amazement 

 when he found himself sitting down in the snow after 

 the old gun went off, and still blanker when he came to 

 the dead dog, and then the excruciating misery and fear 

 when he took in the whole situation and collapsed all in 

 a heap — this was. of all his experiences, the most ridicu- 

 lously funny funny scene he ever witnessed, and he sank 

 down and rolled in the snow with laughter. When he 

 recovered so as to straighten himself out, he looked over 

 in the field and saw Charlie still crying as if his heart 

 was broken. Cap went over and tried to comfort him, 

 but it was a long time before he could make any head- 

 way; and even to this day Charlie will never touch a gun 

 again. And though he is now the sedate head of a large 

 business and of a family, if any one hints in his presence 

 of shooting rabbits on the wing, Charlie at once has 

 urgent business elsewhere. Byrne. 

 PetatjUma. Cal. 



THE MAN OR THE PANTHER? 



AN agent of the Smithsonian Institution has been dig- 

 ging into the Indian mounds of southern Ohio. In 

 the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette he reports the result 

 of his labors. One of the mounds is thus described: 



The first mound opened was on the farm of Mr. James, three 

 miles east of Chillicothe, O., and overlooked the Scioto Kiver. It 

 was on rather high ground, the third river terrace. This mound 

 was 13ft. high. 90ft. wide and 110ft. long. It took sis men eight 

 days to dig through. We began at the east side with a trench 

 25ft. wWe, and carried this excavation right through the mound. 

 When about 20ft. from the eastern edge we came upon a thick 

 layer of burned hones. This layer was Gin. thick and the width 

 of the trench. The ashes of which it was composed were either 

 resultant from animal or human hones, we could not tell which, 

 but at any rate, whether animal or human.it must have taken 

 thirty or forty skeletons (if cremated) to have made that many 

 ashes. 



About 5ft. above this layer, or 9ft. from the summit of the 

 mound, was a skeleton of a very large individual, which had 

 burned by the side of it the boaes of a panther. Whether the per- 

 son had killed the panther and it was buried with him as an 

 honor, or whether the panther had killed the individual, I cannot 

 say. This much, however, can be said, that in forty-three mounds 

 opened no find of this nature has been made. It is therefore quite 

 Interesting and important. The skull of this panther was very 

 large, the teeth very long and sharp. It would take a mound- 

 builder "i a great deal ot nerve to attack a beast of this size if he 

 had nothing but a stone hatchet and a bow and arrows to defend 

 himself with. So, if he did kill the panther, he is certainly en- 

 titled to a great, deal of credit. Just below this skeleton and lying 

 on the layer of buried bones, was a medium-sized personage who 

 had buried around his neck between the upper and lower jaw, 147 

 bone and shell beads. The shell beads were made from the thick 

 part of conch and Pyrula shells. These shells must have been 

 carried from the Atlantic OceaD, as they are ocean shells, and nut 

 found inland, or the tribe to wbicti this man belonged may have 

 traded with tribes near the ocean, and thereby got the beads. 



Did the Indian kill the panther, or did the panther kill 

 the Indian, and how did it happen? 



hit nt\i §iv(>r $ishin$. 



BARRACUDA FISHING AT SAN DIEGO, 



AFTER making several ineffectual attempts to induce 

 some congenial friends to join mo and break the 

 monotony of office fife by a day's sport with the famous 

 barracuda, I finally decided to go down to "Shanty Town" 

 and seek a companion among the professional fishermen. 

 Inquiries as to the biting brought most encouraging 

 replies. A party of fishermen invited me to go out with 

 them as soon as their boat was repaired, and they ex- 

 pected to have it ready by Saturday night; but when I 

 came to fill my appointment the boat was not done. 

 Fortunately a friend of the boat menders volunteered to 

 borrow a sloop from Portuguese Bill if he did not intend 

 to use it, and to try the fishing with me. Bill agreed to 

 lend us his sloop, "Baby Mine," on condition that we 

 give him our catch of fish. "Good enough," said I. 

 "It suits me," said he, aud so the bargain was concluded. 

 I was to go down to the bay about 10 o'clock at night and 

 sleep aboard the sloop. My preparations were soon made. 



1 donned some old clothes, took a good supply of lunch, 

 and carried a long my rifle to pay my respects to a certain 

 bull seal, which had a well-known propensity for follow- 

 ing the boat, sometimes coming within 20ft., to rob the 

 lines of as many fish as possible. My companion was a 

 sailor and sealer by occupation, and known to me under 

 the name of Bob. 



At the appointed time we rowed out to the sloop and 

 found everything in perfect order. There were two 

 bunks and the fides of the cabin were lined with fishing 

 tackle. We retired very soon to await the outgoing tide, 

 which turned at 2:19 o'clock in the morning. About 



2 o'clock some friends rowed past in their skiff and 

 awakened us. In a few minutes we hoisted the sail and 

 oast adrift. There was no wind at the time, and we took 

 to the oars, to cross the bay into the channel and use the 

 outgoing tide. Presently a light breeze sprung up and 

 sent us skimming over the bay; and how beautiful was 

 the night. The stars were shining brightly and it was so 

 warm that we had our coats off. Fish were darting here 

 and there, leaving wakes of phosphorescent light resem- 

 bling stieaks of lightning at a distance. Once in a while 

 a large fish, disturbed by our presence, would start off, 

 leaving a glow of light 6 to 8ft. in diameter. 



Once in the channel the tide swept us along at the rate 

 of three miles an hour. At daybreak we were drifting 

 past Ballast Point, the entrance to the bay. After float- 

 ing a mile out into the ocean, assisted occasionally by a 

 cat's paw, we concluded to tie up to the kelp and wait 

 for the wind. Here we enjoyed for an hour the continu- 

 ous up and down motion of the heavy ground swells, 

 sometimes throwing out a line as far as possible and pull- 

 ing it in rapidly to entice the barracula which were 

 playing around us, but withottt success. So we dropped 

 back into our seats, filled our pipes, and waited patiently 

 for the breeze, which is indispensable for barracuda fish- 

 ing as it is in the Atlantic for that wily corsair, the blue- 

 fish. As I was puffing away at my pipe, and speculating 

 as to our prospects, I heard something like the surf 

 breaking on the shore. After calling Bob's attention to 

 it, and remarking that we were too far out to hear the 

 surf, he laughed, and told me to look over the stern. 

 Here something met my gaze that I had never seen 

 before. About 1,500 porpoises were coming toward us in 

 a line, jumping out of the water and looking like big 

 black wheels rolling along. They raised a wave about 

 two feet high in front of them, that was lashed into 

 foam, and the sound like surf breaking on shore was 

 continuous. When within 200 or 300yds. of us they 

 changed their course, and passed at a right angle for 

 over an hour, until we lost sight of them in the distance. 



About nine o'clock a light breeze sprung up, and, cut- 

 ting loose from the kelp, we began to move slowly over 

 the water, but not fast enough, as Bob said, to put out 

 our lines. In my anxiety to begin the sport I cast out 

 two lines, and very soon we hooked two so-called Spanish 

 mackerel of 10 and 121bs. apiece. These fish remind me 

 of our Eastern bonito, and I am inclined to believe they 

 are not Spanish mackerel. Presently the breeze fresh- 

 ened and within a half hour we were sailing at a lively 

 rate; so we adjusted outriggers, one on either side, about 

 in the waist of the boat, with two lines on each. We 

 also trolled one from the stern, making five in all. Just 

 then we met our friends coming home loaded with 65 

 barracuda, which they had caught by towing and troll- 

 ing while we were tied to the kelp. Being thus encour- 

 aged we put everything in readiness aud placed in front 

 of the cabin door a fi3h-box 3 x3 x3ft. Bob had the first 

 strike and pulled in his fish, then he hooked and landed 

 another, and a third. As I was beginning to wonder 

 what was the matter with my lines, one of them straight- 

 ened out, and I began to haul in hand over hand. When 

 I was about to lift bim out of the water he doubled him- 

 self up, and I brought out the bare hook. I repeated 

 this three times, and then caught on to Bob's method of 

 landing fish. Upon hooking another I took Bob's advice, 

 pulled in slowly, and when the fish was within three feet 

 from the boat I threw him up into the air, bringing him 

 over my head, and landed him in the box. Then, by 

 catching hold of the drail and jerking if, the fish came 

 off easily. As I found out. all the drails for barracuda 

 fishing have the barb of the hook filed very blunt, and an 

 inexperienced person might easily lose his fish, while, at 

 the same time, the hook is readily jerked out of the 

 mouth free from the lance-like teeth. 



Now the fun has commenced in earnest; first one, then 

 two, four, five, are hooked at a time, and rare sport it 

 was to haul them in. For about five minutes we had all 

 we could handle, and then for ten or fifteen minutes we 

 would not see a sign of one. Now we are into them 

 again, hauling away for dear life! Sometimes when 

 hauling in one or two they would become entangled with 

 the other lines, and before we could get them in we 

 would have one, two or three on the remaining lines, 

 and then there was a sad jumble of lines and struggling 

 fish. Occasionally, in attempting to land fi-h in the box 

 we missed it, and they fell clown into the bottom of the 

 boat; or our uncertain footing would be lost and we were 

 bunched in a slippery mass, fish and all. The sloop was 

 pitching heavily, as half a gale of wind was blowing; 

 wet from the waist down, we had what you might call a 

 huge time. The drails tow^d at the surface of the water 

 and we could see nearly every fish that took hold. We 

 caught sixty-eight barracuda and two Spanish mackerel 



— about 4251bs. of fish— filling our box, and with the loss 

 of only one hook. Having all the fish we wanted by 

 2 P. M., although the biting was as furious as ever, we 

 got undpr way to save the wind home. Portuguese Bill 

 was well satisfied with his share of the cruise. The fish 

 were selling at the time for ten cents each. 



Sixty feet of soft laid cotton line is used for trolling, 

 and the bone drail, shown in the accompanying illustra- 



SAN DIEGO BARRACUDA DRAIL. 



A. Hook; barb filed blunt. B. Soft laid cotton line. C. Cross 

 section of bone drail. D. Should represent twisted wire, 

 length Sin. 



tion, is preferred for barracuda fishing. When drails 

 cannot be obtained, common hooks with a piece of rag 

 attached are substituted. The hook is fastened to the 

 bone by means of a rivet and a wire loop. Eight inches 

 of twisted copper wire is made fast to the drail for the 

 protection of the line. 



The favorite haunts of the barracuda are in and along 

 the edge of the kelp. Sometimes they can be seen in a 

 mass, making the water boil with their frantic leaping; 

 there may be fifty out of water at a time and as many 

 more just disappearing under its surface. The fishing 

 lasts from about the middle of June to the middle of 

 September, and while it continues there is no lack of ex- 

 citing sport. J. C. Van Hook. 



San Diego, Cal. 



AQUARIA NOTES. 



Occasional Observations of the Fishes in the Aquaria of the U. S. 

 Fish Commission. 



THE RELATIONS BETWEEN SHARKS AND REMORAS. 



THE amicable relations existing between sharks and 

 those strange fishes, the remoras, usually attached 

 to them, appear to indicate a considerable degree of re- 

 ciprocity of some nature. What it is can only be conjec- 

 tured; but I have often thought that the re mora keeps 

 the shark free from parasites, and is thus tolerated. I 

 have seen clusters of goose barnacles growing from the 

 skin of the great 6ea sunfish, but the skins of the shark, 

 swordfish and rays, which are each attended (or tenanted, 

 as the case may be) by a different species of remora, are, 

 as far as I have seen, free from them. The remora is not 

 a parasite, but is commensal in nature. The laminated 

 disk on top of the head, by which they attach themselves 

 to the skin of the shark — as the small boy fastens his leather 

 sucker to the brick — although giving so tenacious a hold 

 that it is difficult to detach it, slides about on the skin of 

 the shark from belly to back (in which position the 

 remora is upude down), and from head to tail, like a 

 piece of well greased machinery. The common position 

 of the remora, however, is on the belly of the shark. 



During one summer at the Wood's Holl station there 

 was a shark about three feet long in one of the aquaria, 

 with three remoris, each about one foot long, attached to 

 it. When the remoras became hungry they would work 

 up under the shark's throat and move about restlessly, 

 and the shark would appear to be looking around anxi- 

 ously for its accustomed allowance of food. The shark's 

 meal would be two or three pieces of fi3h about the size 

 of a man's fist, or several fish five or six inches long. No 

 sooner did the shark's teeth close on the fish than the 

 remoras were all activity, seizing the fragments or tearing 

 mouthfuls from its very jaws with the greatest voracity. 

 Sometimes one would detach itself, dart off and catch a 

 small fish, returning at once to its place on the shark to 

 eat it. 



Whatever the relations existing between them, they 

 are perfectly harmonious. To the teleologist there can 

 be no fitter illustration of adaptation. The mouth of the 

 shark is underneath. On the other hand the under jaw 

 of the remora is rjrotruding, an( j Jts mouth opening 

 upward is perfectly adapted for feeding from the mouth 

 of the shark. 



SPOT OR LAFAYETTE FISH. 



Reference has been made to the addition of a lot of spot 

 to the collection at Central Station. They prove to be 

 exceedingly hardy, being very easy to transport and live 

 well in the aquaria. They will eat raw beef chopped 

 fine (also oysters, clams, etc.), but seem to enjoy soda 

 cracker equally well. One of them, about 5 or 6in. long, 

 had a great gash on one side and a less severe one on the 

 other, evidently inflicted by the teeth of a bluefish or 

 squeteague. The gash was fully three-quarters of an 

 inch long and gaped open at least half an inch, and was 

 at least a quarter of an inch deep. I would have consid- 

 ered it a mortal wound, but it has wholly healed up, 

 leaving a disfiguring scar. Another one has suffered a 

 severe injury when quite young and is a hunchback. 

 GIZZARD SHAD. 



Three specimens of gizzard shad have adorned an 

 aquarium since Oct. 3. They were somewhat bruised 

 and the fins were considerably abraded when they ar- 

 rived. Although there was no expectation of keeping 

 them, as it has been generally considered impossible to 

 keep them, or any of the family, in aquaria, they have 

 steadily improved in appearance and are now in fine con- 

 dition, all traces of bruises and congested blood having 

 disappeared, and the fins having healed up. They eat 

 raw beef scraped fine and soda cracker. They will eat 

 very little while under observation, but a considerable 

 amount of food disappears during the night. In a fresh- 

 water aquarium they would have been attacked by fun- 

 gus and have speedily died. Wm. P. SEAL. 



Fire Weed for Trout Lines. — Judge James G. Swan, 

 of Port Townsend, Washington, informs us that the In- 

 dians at Vancouver use the fiber of the common fire weed 

 (Epilobium august i folium) for making an excellent quality 

 of trout lines. The fiber is very tough and lines made 

 from it are strong and durable. 



Seines, Nets of every description. American Net & Twine Co., 

 Mf rs., 34 Commercial st. Boston, or 199 Fulton St., N. Y.—A.dv. 



