May 28, 1896.] 
FOftfeST AND STREAM. 
stead of the 28fch, as first intended. The ice left that lake 
sooner than expected, and the members of the club fear 
that the fishing may be ahead of them if they are not on 
the wing. The party is a representative one, including 
sotne of the first business and professional men of Brad- 
ford and Haverhill. In the partv are C. W. Arnold, D. 
F. Dudley, Q. E. Emerson, H. I. Pinkham, D. T. Kennedy, 
C. H. Davis, A. P. Jaques, R. E. Traiser, Jacob Moses and 
P. B. Heintz. Most of the gentlemen visit Round Moun- 
tain Lake for the first time, and it is expected that they 
will bring away good impressions and all the fish reason- 
able sportsmen desire. 
The Rumford Falls & Rangeley Lakes Railroad was 
opened to the public on the 15th from Rumford Falls to 
Bemis. Fishermen can now leave Boston at 9 A. M. and 
arrive at Bemis at about 7 o'clock in the evening of the 
same day. Another train is to be run, leaving Portland 
at 8:30, which will arrive at Bemis at about P. M. Par- 
lor cars are to be attached to both trains. Sportsmen with 
whom I have talkpd, though sorry that the Rangeleys are 
thus opened to broad gauge railroad and parlor cars, say 
that they are willing to make the best of it and go 
through from Boston in one day with all comfort New 
York can be left at night and Mooselucmaguntic Lake 
reached the next evening, with sleeping and parlor cars 
all the way. So the world moves. Stages and buckboards 
for many miles, with two anu orve days time to the 
Rangeleys, are within the ear'y . Elections of all of us. 
Salmon are being taken at Ranytney Lake in a very sat- 
isfactory manner. Mr. C. P. Stevens writes me that up to 
dark Monday seven landlocked sa. mon bad been taken. 
Their united weight was 42lbs., and ranged as follows: 
One of 8ilbs., by Ed. Lowell; one of 5ilbs., one of 2|lbs. 
and one of 711bs., by C. P. Stevens; one of S^lbs., one of 
6ilbs. and one of 3lbs., by E Wyman. This is a most 
remarkable opening of landlocked salmon at Rangeley 
Lake; for those most gamy fish have heretofore been far 
between, though the lake has been stocked for a number 
of years. 
Mr. J. Parker Whitney is off for his home camps, at 
Mosquito Brook, Molechunkamunk Lake. He makes his 
beautiful camps his summer home, with his family. Mr. 
Whitney has visited his camps almost every season for 
very many years. Hie was one of the pioneer fishermen 
to the Richardson Lake. He has also spent whole win- 
ters there with his family, including servants and tutors 
for his children. A great lover of fish and game, he has 
never taken either out of season. 
Mr. Augustus Pbinney has gone to the Upper Dam for 
a couple of weeks' fishing. Special. 
NEW FISH FOR THE PACIFIC. 
A Review of the History and Results of the 
Attempts to Acclimatize Fish and Other 
Water Animals in the Pacific States. 
OPENING OF THE CANADIAN ANGLING 
SEASON. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The Canadian angling season has been well and duly 
opened. As anticipated in my last it is even earlier than 
usual, notwithstanding the late lingering of winter in the 
lap of spring. The ice, which left moBt of the smaller 
lakes hereabouts ten days and more ago, left Lake Edward 
on the 11th inst. and Lake St. John on the 12th. On 
the }atter mentioned lake it had been broken, especially 
around the shore, for nearly a week previous to its de- 
parture, and there was clear water in and near the 
mouths of all the rivers. In the bay at the mouth of 
the Metabetchouan the French-Canadian fishermen of 
the place have been catching ouananiche with bait for 
Borne days p?st, and by this time there is undoubtedly cood 
sport to be had off the Roberval shore. Mr. Frank Ross, 
who controls the fishing in the mouth of the Ouiatchouan, 
is about to open the fly-fishing season there with a party of 
friends from England. There ought to be good sport there 
by the 20th inst. I am still of the opinion that June 8 or 
10 will be early enough to find good fly-fishing in the 
Grande De charge for ouananiche; but by the 18th or 20th 
inst. the trout in the inland lakes, if not in the streams, 
should be rising to surface lures. Further south, in the 
immediate vicinity of the city, one or two fair strings of 
fish have already heen taken out of lakes St. Charles and 
Beauport by fly-fishers, and bait proved killing as early as 
Saturday last in the Stadacona Lakes, where the catch of 
J. E. Livernois on that date included a 51b. fontinalis. 
The water, which has been unusually high this spring 
all over the north country, is now falling rapidly, as 
there has been virtually no rain at all since the disappear- 
ance of the snow. It is sincerely to be hoped that we may 
be spared a repetition of the uncomfortable ppell of wet 
weather that greeted American anglers in Canada last 
year throughout the best of the spring fishing season in 
the last part of May and beginning of June. 
In about a week or ten days • a party of well-known 
anglers is expected here on its way to the Nomantum Club 
House, on Lac des Commissaires. The party includes GL 
E. Hart, superintendent of the Waterbury Watch Co., 
and I. L. Atwood, of Waterbury, Conn., and W. Durand, 
the manufacturing jeweler, of Newark, N, J. Mr. C. E. 
Turner, of Waterbury, who accompanied the party last 
year, will be missed both in Quebec and at the club house 
this season, for he is "chained to business," and writes 
me that he is doing the most of his fishing just now in the 
columns of Forest and Stream. Yesterday I just missed 
seeing Dr. Porter, of Bridgeport, who passed through on 
his way to the Metabetchouan Club's preserve, on Lake Kis- 
kisink. Messrs. F. N. B3nham, of the Bridgeport Nation- 
al Bank, and J. P. Warner are already at the club house, 
as also are Mr. P. Page, of Summit, N. J., and Maj. Bailey 
and Messrs. Buckingham and Parsons, of Washington. 
To-morrow the party will be reinforced by a baker's dozen 
of Meriden (Conn.), anglers, headed by Mr. Francis Stev- 
enson, who are to leave Quebec by a special train on the 
Lake St. John R'y. 
Among others who have passed through Quebec on 
their way to their fishing grounds within the past few 
days are Dr. Beardsley, of Brooklyn, Mr. C. W. Ailing, 
of Newark, N. J., and Messrs. J. W. Cromwell and E, W. 
Caggisball, of New York. 
Mr. E. C. Fitch, president of the Waltham Watch Co., 
is here on his way to his salmon river, the Romaine. 
E, D. T. Chambers. 
Quebec, May 15, 
The Forest and Stream is put to press 
on Tuesdays. Correspondence intended for 
publication should reach us by Mondays and 
as much earlier as may be practicable. 
BY HUGH M. SMITH, M. D. 
From the Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission. 
Few subjects connected with the utilization of our 
natural resources present greater interest than the possi- 
bilities for the successful transfer of useful animals from 
one section of the country to another and their acclimati- 
sation in new regions. The benefits that may accrue to a 
community or section through the introduction of new 
resources are various, and there are few parts of the 
country in which valuable non-indigenous animals are not 
now found. 
In the case of water animals the benefits of successful 
acclimatization are doubtless proportionally greater than 
with any other class, owing to the little attention they 
require after introduction, their extraordinary fertility as 
compared with land animals, and the slight labor and ex- 
pense incident to their utilization. At the same time, it 
is apparent that the difficulties in the way of introduction 
of fish, mollusks, etc., are greater than with other 
animals; the drawbacks in the mere transportation are 
often very serious, especially when long journeys are to 
be made; while the uncertainties attending the deposi- 
tion of the animals, the determination of the general 
results, and the gauging of the economic effects are much 
greater. » 
Among other influences militating against the success- 
ful introduction of fishes and other aquatic animals into 
new areas, in addition to those incident to their trans- 
portation, are the following: (1) Unsuitable water tem- 
perature; (2) unsuitable food; (3) unfavorable topograph- 
ical condition of the bottom; (4) absence of suitable rivers 
for anadromous fish; (5) enemies and fatalities acting on 
a relatively small number of individuals. 
The results attending the experimental introduction of 
aquatic food animals into the waters of the Pacific States 
must be regarded among the foremost achievements in 
fishculture. The striking illustrations here presented of 
the influence of man over the supply of frpe swimming 
anadromous fishes, to say nothing of his ability to 
affect the abundance of non-migratory species, are of 
great economic and scientific interest. 
Aside from the direct economic results which have fol- 
lowed the introduction of East coast fishes into the waters 
of the Pacific States, a very important basis has been fur- 
nished for judging of the general effects of artificial 
methods in regions where the object of fishcultural opera- 
tions has been to maintain and increase the abundance 
of native species. Attention was first drawn to tbis phase 
of the subject in an article contributed by the writer to 
the issue of Science for Aug. 18, 1893, in which the follow- 
ing paragraph appears: 
Of scarcely less consequence than the actual results of shad intro- 
duction on the west coast is the important bearing which the success 
of the experiment must have in determining the outcome of artificial 
propagation in regions in which it is not possible to distinguish with 
satisfactory accuracy the natural from the artificial conditions. If 
these far-reaebing, and no doubt permanent, results attend the plant- 
ing, on few occasions, of small numbers of fry in waters to which the 
fish are not indigenous, is it not permissible to assume that much 
more striking consequences must follow the planting of enormous 
quantities of fry, year after year, in native waters? There is no rea- 
sonable doubt that the perpetuation of the extensive shad fisheries in 
most of the rivers of the Atlantic coast has been accomplished entirely 
by artificial propagation. On no other supposition can the main- 
tenance and increase of the supply be accounted for. 
The zealous efforts of the fish commissioners of Cali- 
fornia to increase the quantity and variety of food and 
game fishes of the State deserve special recognition. For 
more than twenty-five years the energies of the commis- 
sion have been almost constantly directed to the acclima- 
tization of desirable fishes inhabiting the waters of the 
Eastern States. Their remarkable success when acting 
on their own behalf and in conjunction with the New 
York Fish Commission and the United States Fish Com- 
mission entitles them to the great credit and praise which 
they have received both from the inhabitants of California 
and from the people of other States and foreign countries. 
The other States of this section have also exhibited great 
interest in the improvement of their fish supply through 
the acclimatization of Eastern species. 
Mention should be made of the efficient services ren- 
dered to fishculture by Mr. Livingston Stone in success- 
fully taking fishes across the continent at a time when 
fish transportation was an undeveloped art and when the 
difficulties encountered would have discouraged one less 
enthusiastically interested and less competently informed 
on the general subject. To Mr. Stone more than to any 
other person is the direct credit due for the introduction 
of most of those fishes which have since attained economic 
prominence. 
In this report I have considered all those species not 
already indigenous which have been introduced, or the 
introduction of which has been attempted, in Cali- 
fornia, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Nevada. Idaho 
has been included in the discussions because all its water 
courses are practically tributaries of the Columbia River, 
and fish planted in that stream might find their way into 
the State, while plants in the open waters of Idaho 
might produce results in Oregon and Washington. The 
proximity to California of the Nevada lakes and rivers in 
which new fishes have been planted, and the similarity 
of the fishery interests of the contiguous parts of the two 
States, have appeared to warrant the inclusion of Nevada 
in the list. In the case of a few species having special 
interest, reference to their acclimatization in Utah has 
been made. 
An interesting chapter might be prepared treating of 
the experimental introduction of native Western fishes 
into new waters of the region; as, for instance, the ac- 
climatization of the chinook salmon and rainbow trout in 
landlocked Nevada waters and the successful transplant- 
ing of the Sacramento perch (Archoplites interruptus) in 
Nevada; but this subject is foreign to the scope of the 
present paper. 
It is intended in this paper to recount the history of 
the introduction of -each aquatic species; to record the 
general results of the experiments; to state what is known 
of the habits of the animals in their new environment, 
and to give an account of the economic importance at- 
tained and of the fisheries prosecuted. 
The folio wing fish and other aquatic animals receive 
special mention and will be considered in the order given: 
(i) The bullhead or horned pout. 
;<2) The white catfish. 
(3) The spotted catfish. 
(4) The carp. 
(5) The tench. 
(6) The goldfish. 
(7) The Hawaiian awa. 
(8) Th» ebad. 
(9) The common whitefish. 
(10; The Atlantic-salmon. 
(11) The landlocked salmon. 
(12) The Von Behr or European 
brown trout. 
(13) The Loch Leven trout. 
(14) The lake trout or Mackinaw 
trout. 
(15) The brook trout, 
(16) The muskellonge. 
(17) The pike or pickerel. 
(18) The eel. 
(19) The crappy or bachelor 
(20) The strawberry bass or calico 
bass. 
(21) The rock bass. 
(22) The Warmouth bass. 
(33.) The blue-eill or blue bream. 
(24) The green sunflsh. 
(25) The large-mouth black basa. 
(26) The small-mouth black bass. 
(27) The yellow perch or ringed 
perch. 
(28) The wall-eyed pike or pike 
perch. 
(29) The striped bass or rockflsh. 
(30) The white bass. 
(31) The tautog. 
(32) The American lobster. 
(33;) The Eastern oyster. 
(34) The soft clam. 
The Catfish. 
At least three species of catfish— the white catfish 
(Aweiurus catus), the yellow catfish or bullhead (Ameiurus 
nebulosus), and the spotted catfish (Ictalurus punctatus)— 
inhabiting parts of the United States east of the Rocky 
Mountains, have been transferred to ihe Pacific States. 
Catfish were taken to California in 1874 by Mr, Livingston 
Stone,* of the United States Fish Commission, and subse- 
quently one or two species were introduced into Oregon 
and Washington. Mr. Stone's assortment of Eastern cat- 
fish consisted of fifty-six large Schuylkill catfish 
(Ameiurus catus) from the Raritan River, New Jersey, 
and seventy hornpnuts or bullheads (A, nebulosus) from 
Lake Champlain, Vermont. The large white catfish were 
deposited in the San Joaquin River, near Stockton, Cal., 
and the bullheads were placed in ponds and sloughs near 
Sutterville, Sacramento county, Cal,; botn plants were 
made on June la, 1874. 
The spotted catfish is probably the best of the tribe, and 
is the principal one distributed by the United States Fish 
Commission. In food value it is regarded by Jordan and 
Evermann as not inferior to the black basn. Several 
plants have in recent years been made in the Pacifi) 
States. In 1892 the following adult and yearling catfish 
were deposited in Washington waters in response to re- 
quests: Seventy-five in Clear Lake, Skagit county; 125 in 
a private pond near Vancouver; 50 in Deer Lake, in 
Stevens county. In 1893, 100 were placed in the Boise 
River, Idaho, a tributarv of the Snake River. Ten were 
• put in the Balsa Chico River, California, in 1895, Plants 
of yearlings were made in Lake Cuyamaoa and Feather 
River, California, in 1891, each water receiving 250 fish, 
The results attending the introduction of catfish in 
California were immediate and marked. As early as 
1875 the State Commissioners reported on the matter as 
follows: 
The Schuylkill catfish and the Mississippi catfish, placed in the San 
Joaquin River, have grown rapidly and spawaed, but several of the 
large fish and many of the young ones have been caught by the fisher- 
men near the San Joaquin Bridge, and have been returned to the 
river. The fishermen at that point are mucb interested in their suc- 
cessful cultivation, and seem desirous that they should be preserved. 
By another year they will be so numerous that they may be caught 
with safety and shipped to market, as it would be impossible to ex- 
haust the^iver by ordinary fulling. The hornpauts, a species of 
small catfish from Lake Champlaia, which ware placed in the lakes 
near Sacramento, have increased so abundantly that nearly 1,000 have 
been caught and transported to the various lakes and sloughs in the 
Sacramento Valley, 
In their report for 1876-77, the Fish Commissioners 
stated : 
The seventy-four Schuylkill catfish imported in 1874, and placed in 
lakes near Sacramento, have increased to a vast extent. They already 
furnish an important addition to the fish food supply of the city of 
Sacramento and vicinity. Prom the increase *»e have distributed 
8,400 to appropriate waters in the counties of Napa, Monterey, Los 
Angeles. Fresno, Tulare, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Solano, Alameda, San 
DiesO, Yolo, Santa Barbara, and Siskiyou. 
In 1878-79 the California Commissioners distributed 
39,000 Schuylkill catfish to public waters in twenty-two 
counties, and reported as follows about the fish: 
These have increased to millions and furnish an immense supply 
of food. They have become so numerous that they are as regularly 
on sale in the city markets as the most abundant native fish, and 
are sold at about the same prices. They thrive in our rivers and 
lakes, and in the still-water sloughs of our plains, as well as in the 
brackish sloughs in our tule lands. They appear to be equally at 
home in Jakes on the mountains and in artificial reservoirs in the val- 
leys. Many farmers who have natural ponds on their farms, or who 
have surplus waters from windmills and have made arrifieial ponds, 
- have stocked them with this excellent fish. The produce of tne few 
fish of this spscies, imported in 1874, now anoually furnishes a large 
and valuable supply of fish food to people in the interior of the State. 
The value of all tne fish of this species now caught annually and con- 
sumed as food would more than equal the annual appropriation made 
by the State and placed at the disposal of the Fish Commissioners. 
This variety of catfish has valuable characteristics which admirably 
fit it for wide distribution and for self-preservation in the struggle for 
existence. 
The report of the California Fish Commission for 1880 
shows that over 24,000 catfish were distributed in the 
State waters, and that the fish had become so numerous 
and widely scattered that further attention from the Com- 
mission was hardly demanded. 
In considering the question of the economic value of 
the catfish and of the effects of its introduction on the 
native fishes, the Fish Commissioners make the following 
comment in their reports for 1883-84 and 1885-86: 
It has been stated by fisherman that they would destroy all the 
native fish. It is our opinion that it was a timely act on the part of 
tbe formar State Commissioners to plant them just when they did, as 
our native fish were giving out. * * * They are coming more into 
favor with our citizens every year. The prejudice tbat existed at the 
time of their introduction is fast dying out, and tbe majority of our 
paople claim that they are a better food fish than the carp, whether 
such be the fact is a matter of taste. The idea that they would destroy 
our native fisn is a fallacy, as in the last two years statistics tend to 
show that such is not the fact. 
Catfish are coming more into favor with citizens as food, and by a 
lirge clas3 of consumers are preferred to cirp. The planting of these 
fish was regretted by many and approved by more. 
Catfish have been successfully introduced into the 
Columbia River and its tributary, the Willamette, but the 
full history of the planting is not recorded. 
The history of the introduction of catfish into the 
waters of Nevada i3 very interesting. It appears that iD 
1877 Mr. H, G. Parker, the State Fish Commissioner, ob- 
tained from the Sacramento River, California, a large 
number of 4! Scuuylkill" catfish (Ameiurus catus), which 
were deposited in Washoe Lake, the Truckee, Carson and 
Humboldt rivers, and several sloughs, 25,000 yearlings 
being placed in the Humboldt alone. In all these waters 
the catfish rapidly became acclimatized, • In the report of 
the Nevada Commissioner for 1881 and 18s2 it is stated 
that 2,000 catfish were distributed in various waters in 
those years, and that the results had been marked in al 
the waters stocked, thousands of pounds of catfish bein 
* See Report California Fish Commission, 1875-76, pp. 5, 6, 22, 30, 
