428 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 18, 1898. 



Forest and Stream in the World's Fair. 



As Seen by Our Staff Corresp07idents. 



Exhibit of the U. S. Fish Commission. 



This minute description of the fish exliibit of the [Suited 

 States Fisli Commission is from personal observation. 

 Much care and thought have been exercised in getting all 

 the details correct. 



Therewith was some anxiety of a personal nature 

 caused by the immemorial prejudice which the public 

 displays toward those who are not considered experts in 

 any specialty inA^olviug publicity. Fishermen are pai'tic- 

 ularly opposed to those who by force of arms as it were, 

 break into their time-honored guild or its literature. It is 

 particularly distasteful to them when a Avriter on dogs 

 suddenly switches off to writing on fish, without any 

 shadow cast before to herald the coming event. This 

 prejudice, however, is most inconsiderate and unjust— in- 

 considerate since it is absurd to assume that because a 

 man writes a long time about one thing he can not write 

 a short time about some other thing; and 

 unjust, since it bars a man in a manner 

 from participating in the j^ractical and 

 ideal pleasures of the sport. Because a 

 man is a sailor, must he perforce know 

 nothing of dry land? Because a writer is 

 eternally sounding the praises of the peace- 

 ful and "harmonious fraternity of dog fan- 

 ciers and dogs, does that bar a knowledge 

 of fish? Yet the caste lines — if I may so 

 use the term — are nowhere drawn sharper 

 than about the noble society of fishermen, 

 who are supposed to be the soul of hon- 

 homie and altiniistic tendency. 



To narrow all this now to a personal ap- 

 plication to my own case, at some risk of 

 crossing the boundary of tolerated egotism, 

 I have the honor of having been accused of 

 being a dog man, or kennel writer, and a 

 few times I have been playfully referred to 

 as a kennel editor, but nevertheless I have 

 some knowledge of fish — yes, more, I have 

 caught fish; big ones they were too; caught 

 in the conventional high-art, rod-and-reel 

 manner, although some spectator said, in 

 moments of persiflage, that my style of 

 fishing is remarkablj' sui generis. My suc- 

 cess, the result of skill, has always been 

 ascribed to luck. This brief explanation is 

 intended to set the wise reader aright at 

 the outset. 



The U. S. exhibit is in a pavilion close to 

 the main Fisheries Building and connected 

 therewith by a piece of airy architecture. 

 In the pavilion there are two rows of tanks, 

 one following in the inner cii-cle of the wall, 

 the other forming by itself an inside circle 

 of tanks, a roomy j^a.ssageway between the 

 two affording room for spectators. In the 

 middle of the building in the space inclosed 

 by the inner circle of tanks is a fountain. 

 The exhibit is said to be one of the best, if 

 not the best one of fresh-water fish ever 

 shown in this country. To the public, it is 

 a most interesting attraction. The ijavilion 

 is constantly crowded with enthusiastic 

 larlies and gentlemen, from morn tiU night. 



The clear plate glass which forms the 

 sides of the tanks renders visible the domes- 

 tic and work-a-day life of the fish. Gravel 1 



bottoms, rough rocks here and there loosely 

 thrown together, and artificial caverns 

 make resting and liiding places for the fish, 

 imitating in a manner their homes in their 

 native waters. 



Air is injected, or projected or forced 

 into the water through pipes to aerate it. 

 It is not commonly known that water is full of wind. The 

 fish, by their peculiar manner of breathing, that is by 

 sifting the water through their gills, thus separating the 

 air from it, leave it oxygenless, which then is fatal to fish 

 Kfe. 



■ Many of the fish had a false membrane growing on 

 their heads and sides, which I heard a fisherman say was 

 technically called mildew, a sort of fungus which comes 

 from dampness and darkness. But this fungus is rapidly 

 disappearing, and the fish will all be soon in good coat. 



There was variety enough to please a Waltonian Mun- 

 chausen. Croakers, spotfish, lady-crabfish, white perch- 

 fish, swellfish, toadflsh, lobsterfish, king-crabfish, burfish, 

 tomcod, tautog, rock sturgeon, shovel-nosed sturgeon, 

 paddlefish, lake trout, rainbow trout, black croppie, yel- 

 low perch, brook trout, tencli, large and small-mouth 

 black bass, white bass, red-eyed bream, burbot, eel. long- 

 nosed gar, catfish, mountain trout, sucker, pike, river 

 carp, dogfish, pickerel, goldfish, sand pike, pike-perch, 

 sheepshead, golden ide, blue sunfish, Van Behr trout, 

 Loch Leven trout, scale carp, mirror carp, etc., were in 

 abundance. 



A brief description of a few of the most prominent 

 classes will be interestmg to those who are deprived of 

 the happiness of gazing on them. Nearlv all the classes 

 were weU filled. To the right of the main entrance in 

 the lu-st stall, or, as it is called, tank, were some sea 

 anemones. A gentleman who was explaining matters to 

 a lovely lady who accompanied him, told her very earn- 

 estly, as they admired these fish flowers, that they were 

 an-e-mones. ' 



The next tank, according to the label thereon, contained 

 spot and which by the same token, are found from Cape 

 Cnd to Texas. 1 ound presumably in the water. In size, 

 they closely approxunate to common inland fish In color 

 they have a delicate tinge of corn-gxeen, set off with 

 delicate zebra markings, which I presume gave rise to the 

 name of spot. 



One tank was empty, I thought it could have been 

 profitably utilized by placing therein some finnin haddie. 

 It would thus have been an object lesson. This stron-^ 

 fish in his native element has no peer. It^is'remarkable 



what little knowledge of this fish is possessed by fisherrnen. 

 I never heard of anybody catching one. I asked a friend 

 to tell me where the flnniu haddie habitated, and he said 

 the finnin haddie was found in Finland. I presume this 

 is so, for their diet is foreign and gives them a very smoky 

 flavor when they are cooked. 



The croakers had a stall to themselves, excepting the 

 presence of some rheumatic crabs which walked uncer- 

 tainly on the bottom. I was not quite sure of the classi- 

 fication of the croaker, po I asked the Deacon what kind 

 of fish it was. He promptly replied: "It's a low down, 

 half bred sort 'r fish; 'taint much good." That settles the 

 croakers. 



The white perch were a sorty class. AU lacked depth 

 of chest, and are cobby in build. They are intensely 

 gregarious. They inhabit certain districts, while other 

 districts are not inhabited by them. In Chicago restau- 



DB. JAMES A. HENSHALL. 

 In Charge Angling Pavilion, Fisheries Building. 



rants they fill a long felt want. A light loin and short, 

 thick neck are grave faults, and should be bred out as 

 soon as possible. 



A big fish, about a 4-pounder, easily good for a 10- 

 pounder if caught by hook and line, was labeled a small 

 fish. He was probably in the challenge class and had a 

 walkover. He was out of coat, loaded in the shoulders 

 and carried a low nose. 



Some toadfish and round clams occupied one tank. 

 Their animation was about alike. However, the toadfish 

 has a most benign expression, though the face is heavily 

 wrinkled and careworn. The face, moreover, is too 

 cheeky for beauty, and the head is set on the body with- 

 out any intervention of neck. The back is very short, 

 and the body is hardly larc'c pnou^h feo furnish noiu-ish- 

 ment to so large a head. Some of these fish had a rough , 

 undressed skin which would be greatly benefitted by 

 some of the mange cures advertised in our columins. 



One stall furnished a home for some unhealthy lobsters. 

 They were active enough and had a most truculent ex- 

 pression, but theu" color was a bihous green, and not at 

 all like the bright red of the lobster in good health. 

 There were some predacious crabs watching the lobsters 

 with unpleasant eye. 



One tank was alive with dozens of beautiful lake trout 

 two years old. They appeared to be from 6 to lOin. in 

 length. The class was a sorty one of speckled butes. The 

 skin was neatly fitted to the person of each and covered 

 evenly Avith polka dots. A time-honored fable of the 

 trout's shyness was there refuted. Trout are not at all 

 shy. Those trout would, dozens at a time, place then- 

 noses against the glass and gaze at the public much in 

 the same manner as a crowd of pohte American citizens 

 ^v\\\ swarm around a strange Arab, on a sti-eet of Chicago, 

 and gaze at him in wild-eyed wonder, A tank fuU of 

 puppy trout, tiny fellows, showed that they wovdd in 

 time be larger. 



But the beautiful bm- fish, the cobby fellow tu black 

 and gold stripes, the pug dog of the fish family, the grey- 

 hound of the ocean. Sharp-lined bars of yellow and blue 

 rim bias aroimd his finely curved bust and waist. The 

 skin has a loosely-woven silk yarn finish, with cater- 



pillar spines sticking about its pei-son as it happeneth. 

 Two large black spots placed back of the shoulders and 

 on the flank relieve it from being spotless. The flatness 

 of chest is offset by great spring of ribs back of the 

 shoulders. The nose is short, skull full without any ex- 

 cessive occipital development, and there is no thi'oati- 

 ness. Head not well chiseled under eye. The eyes are 

 set wide apart, show some haw and have a watery look. 

 The mouth is not ornamental. This class appears to be ' 

 in the toy division. It was deficient in tan markings. 

 The shoulder fins and rib fins were well carried. 



Yellow perch were well represented. They have been 

 frequently described in previous reports. 



The tench has a most repellant expression, due to a pre- 

 ponderance of head,, which is occupied largely by a 

 curved mouth. Of course, a smaller head could not hold 

 so large a month, thus nature shows it never makes a 

 mistake. This fish has three sets of rowers or fins in a 

 row on each side. These fins are technically called the 

 epigastric fins, the hypogastric fins and the umbihcal fins. 

 The steering fin is placed on the end of the spinal column. 

 Each fish are ehgible to listing in Kennel Gazette on pay- 

 ment of twenty-five cents. 



One tank or stall contained large and small-mouthed 

 black bass and bream. Some of them looked mangy. To 

 classify a fish by the size of its mouth is both inelegant 

 and unskilful. Who ever heard of large-mouthed St. 

 Bernards, or small-mouthed mastiffs? Or big-footed pugs, 

 or shovel-nosed setters? Or red-eyed beagles, 

 or long-billed bulldogs? The nomenclature 

 needs revision. As I gazed upon the beau- 

 tiful black bass I could hardly realize the 

 " "% belligerent nature of these fish from their 



I dignified deportment. I would, moreover, 



hardly believe that 50,000 or 60,000 differ- 

 ent kinds, colors and shapes of bogus flies 

 were necessary to catch them in a proper 

 maimer. But the flies in quantities are 

 necessary. You see, the bass knows the 

 kind of flies he wants. You keep on offer- 

 ing him a different fly till you find a shape 

 and color which suits his taste, the color 

 always harmonizing with foUage and sky 

 colors, and there you are. The bass will 

 bite worms, and gTasshoppers and frogs 

 and things, but civilization bars these be- 

 cause there is no more skill in getting fish 

 to bite a worm than there is in getting a 

 dinner with a ^20 gold piece. Civilization 

 and high art require that you fool the fish 

 and catch him, too. CivUization is a great 

 thing. So is art. Then the battles these 

 fish have fought! How they swirled and 

 sprung angrily from the water, and shook 

 their heads in* bold defiance, and how the 

 reel sung, and the rod bent, and how he 

 gave him the butt, and how the resilient 

 tip resiliented, and — the line broke and — 

 what a big fish was lost! And there you 

 are again . The primitive m an would throw 

 the bass a worm with a hook therein en- 

 cased. A simple consecutiveness of line 

 and j)ole established the medium. Action 

 was gotten up without any lost motion. 

 The bass bit, lie was yanked instantly in 

 mid air, there was a dull thud and aU was 

 over. But this is a digression. To return 

 to our mutton. 



The croppies were all in one class. Good 

 temper was visible in every feature, al- 

 though each fish had his back up. The 

 body tapers quickly to a very narrow loin 

 and cat hips. Nose retrousse, eyes set on 

 side of bead, and this fish can gaze for 

 hours without winking. Eibs flat, chest 

 deep, shoulders sloping, has a kind of roll- 

 ing gait. 



But the catfish and dogfish! The fish of 

 the people. The bullhead was there in all 

 his meekness, the same noble fish of our 

 boyhood days. The mouth with the same 

 fixed amiabihty. The eyes full of mourn- 

 ful forgiveness for generations of oppres- 

 sion. Withal it was the same stiff-necked, 

 assertive biter of worms which delighted 

 to be caught, murmuriag only a musical murmur in pro- 

 test. 



The dogfish, however, is the fish for your money. He 

 is the game terrier of the water. He persists in being 

 caught to give his mouth and fins exercise. He is a 

 fighter, too. One, when caught on light tackle, is equal 

 to his big-mouth relative, the bass. He is not noted as a 

 table fish any more than tlie dog proper, but he gives a 

 run for your money. Not exclusive in his habits like the 

 pickerel, nor wliimsical and finnicky hke the trout, if the 

 bait is but thrown within his reach, he can be depended 

 on to do his part every time like man's best friend. May 

 his shadow never grow thinner. B. Waters. 



Over in the Fisheries Building the Forest and Stream 

 exhibit has become, so they tell me, to be a very pretty 

 affah. Not all the material is yet in place, and no limit 

 of time or material is to be set. The exhibit is improved, 

 but not finished, and it simply must be kept improving 

 untfl in its class it leads all the rest, because that is the 

 kind of an Abou Ben Adhem Forest asd Stream is. The 

 other day, finding a need of some additional sporting 

 material for decorative purposes, I went into the house of 

 A. G. Spalding & Bros, and interviewed Mr. Hirth, the 

 head of the retail tackle department — a man who, I firmly 

 believe, has the largest heart of any man on earth. When 

 I emerged I had an armful of angling paraphernalia, 

 Spalding's big 101b. bass, three fine cases of dead game, 

 and everything else I wouldn't refuse absolutely to carr}' 

 away. I think if I had proposed to move the whole store 

 down Mr. Hirth would have agreed, and so would the 

 fii-m. I don't know but I will do that next week. Thanks 

 to these courtesies — which, by the rules of red tapedom 

 cannot be acknowledged by card in the exhibit itself — the 

 Forest and Stream corner is brighter and better. A big 

 sea ti'outwiU. join the record taiq3onand the vast bass next 

 week, and the genuine Sahey Gamp wifl also then sit 

 below the Gloriana yacht model. Ail of these things it 

 takes time and closer looking than a general glance to 

 see, and the friends of Forest and Stream will not have 

 pleased it fuUy until they have obeyed the due injunction 

 to "step inside." ' E. HouGH. 



"Forest and Stream's" World's Fair Bureau. 



