FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 3, 1898. 
'The hot weather was followed by a cold wave a day 
or two before the mortality commenced. 
"The phenomena occurred in Greenwich Bay and off 
Nayatt, many miles from any considerable source of 
contamination. 
"Finally, the phenomena in question were noticed 
by very many persons throughout the whole range of 
the red water, while in neighboring portions of the bay. 
for example in the Warren River and in Bristol Harbor, 
where the temperature of the water is quite as high as 
in the red water districts, no Peridinium and no mor- 
tality or unusual behavior of the marine animals was 
reported, though the regions were carefully canvassed. 
"There are many recorded instances of salt and of 
fresh water colored red probably by Peridinium of this 
or a similar species. H. J. Carter, in his account of 
'The Red Coloring Matter of the Sea round the Shores 
of the Island of Bombay,' described the new species 
P sanguineum, which produces this effect. He points 
out also, that Darwin's description of the animalcuk 
which he found to color the sea red, a degree south of 
Valparaiso, accords exactly with that of Peridinium. The 
animalcules which, according to Salt, produce the red 
,-olor in the Red Sea, may also be due to this form 
and the same cause mav perhaps be ascribed to the red 
color of the sea off Iceland in 1649- Porter quotes the 
following passage from an eye witness of a similar oc- 
currence at Porebunder, on the coast of Khattywar, 
India, where the red water is extremely common, viz.: 
"the color of the sea water on Saturday evening last, 
Oct 27 1849, was changed from its usual tint to a deep 
red emitting a most foul smell; the fish speedily were 
all destroyed and washed upon the beach m large quan- 
tities, etc." ' Though the narrator believed that this 
(night be due to a submarine eruption of mud, Mr. Carter 
is inclined to ascribe it to some 'animalcule, most 
probably Peridinium. He also directs attention to the 
Mosaic account of the plague of Egypt given in the 
following verses: 'And all the waters that were in the 
river were turned to blood.' 'And the fish that was in 
the rived died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians 
could not drink of the water of the river ; _ and there 
was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. 
The Cuvier Banquet. 
The twenty-fifth annual banquet of the Cuvier Club 
was held Nov. 22, "with all the ancient glory, with some 
new features introduced, and with possibly a greater 
crush than ever known before." The menu was. as 
usual the perfection of the art, with the choicest 
trophies of the sportsman's prowess in evidence through- 
out There were handsome decorations, music by a 
brass band and a little excellent speaking, and the 
dinner, which began at 5 o'clock, was not over with till 
almost 10. . . j " , , 
Of the 400 members of the club, there were few ab- 
sentees, and there were present as guests of honor 
Prof W H Venable, the poet and historian, and Coates 
Kinney, 'well known as the author of "The Ram on the 
Roof" The venerable president of the club, Alexander 
Starbuck, was present to second the efforts of the re- 
ception committee and to add a welcome to the guests, 
and there were present both of Cincinnati s congress- 
men and the many men eminent in professional and busi- 
ness circles of the city who constitute so large a 
portion of the membership of the club. 
Alono- one side of the club dining-room was set a 
long table, which bore as decorations the pieces de re- 
sistance— huge Kennebec and California salmon and mus- 
callonge— as well as fruit pieces, stands of flowers etc 
The dining room had seating accommodations for about 
seventy-five persons at a time, and as fast as the tables 
were vacated others stood ready to take the places, un- 
til the 400 had all feasted. The banquet committee was 
made up of George Gerke, A. N. Sackett and A. J. Con- 
roy The menu card was a very handsome specimen ot 
engraved and embossed printing, and presented an ex- 
tremely tempting array, served under the direction ot 
Max Basse, whose fame as a caterer is widely known. 
Durino- the progress of the banquet a band of music 
marched through the front door and circled the dining 
room, playing a popular march, and afterward taking 
up its stand in the museum, where it played during the 
evening. This was a pleasant surprise to the members, 
planned by President Starbuck. 
Later in the evening Mr. Coates Kinney, the venerable 
poet read, with much feeling and effect, a patriotic poem 
"The American Citizen," which was greeted with much 
enthusiastic applause: and succeeding Mr Kinney. Prof. 
Venable made a brief and felicitous speech, m which he 
S 'ln' a city famous for clubs— commercial, political, liter- 
ary—the Cuvier Club is distinguished and unique Ihis 
society has other functions than to give exquisite dinners. 
The outings of its members are but incidents in then- 
busy life. The Cuvier is an educational body. It foste/s 
science; it teaches good fellowship and genuine human- 
ity. 
The true, modern sportsman possesses the manliness 
of a man, and the gentleness of a gentleman. He is not 
cruel Away to the lakes he hies, away to the prairie or 
the wildwood, under God's blue sky, feeling the joy of 
vigorous life in body and in soul. He likes sport— he 
loves his dog, his gun, his angling rod, but he loves 
nature and humanity more. He is a naturalist— he dedi- 
cates his club house to the name of a great scholar. Any 
citizen of Cincinnati may well feel proud to sit a guest 
at this board. 
For myself, I cannot claim to be much of an expert 
in sportsmanship, by land or by water, though I might 
tell a fish story. My exploits in boyhood, shooting 
squirrels in the big woods, or quail in my father's stubble 
fields, or catching fish in Newman's Run, fill a large 
volume in memory. But then, and since, on various ex- 
cursions, I confess that I have often forgotten the trout 
in poring o'er the brook that babbles by, and have lost 
sight of the birds in the grass listening to the birds in 
the trees. Though I have not "named all the birds, with- 
out a gun," I hold this in common with old Walton and 
with most "brothers of the angle" and of the gun—a full 
enjoyment in being out of doors. I will venture in con- 
clusion to read you some homemade verses, celebrating, 
in a capriccio, the marvelous performance of a catbird 
whose college of music is in my orchard trees on Mount 
Tusculum: 
My Catbifd. 
Nightingale I never heard, 
Nor the skylark, poet's bird; . 
But there is an aether-winger 
So surpasses every singer 
(Though unknown to lyric fame) 
That at morning, or at nooning, 
When I hear his pipe a-tuning, 
Down I fling Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, 
Shakespeare, too — for what are bards_ worth 
When my Mimus carolinensis 
(That's his Latin name), 
When my catbird wild commences 
Song's hilarious rhapsody, 
Just to please himself and me. 
Prime cantante, 
Scherzo, andante, 
Piano, pianissimo, 
Presto, prestissimo. 
Hark! Are there nine birds or ninety and nine 
And now a miraculous gurgling gushes 
Like nectar from Hebe's Olympian bottle, 
The laughter of tune from a rapturous throttle, 
Such melody must be a hermit thrush's, 
But that other caroler, nearer. 
Outrivaling rivalry with clearer 
Sweetness incredibly fine; 
Is it oriole, redbird or bluebird, 
Or some strange un-Auduboned new bird? 
All one, sir, both this bird and that bird, 
The whole flight are all the same catbird. 
The whole visible and invisible choir you see 
On one lithe twig of yon green tree, 
Flitting, feathery Blondel! 
Listen to his rondel! 
To his lay romantical, 
To his sacred canticle. 
Hear him lilting, 
See him tilting 
His saucy head and tail, and fluttering, 
While uttering 
All the difficult operas under the sun, 
Just for fun; 
Or in tipsy revelry, 
Or at love devilry, 
Or, disdaining his divine gift and art, 
Like an inimitable poet 
Who captivates the world's heart, 
And don't know it. 
Hear him lilt! 
See him tilt! 
Then suddenly he stops. 
Peers about, flirts, hops, 
As if looking where he might gather up 
The wasted ecstacy just spilt 
From the quivering cup 
Of his bliss overrun. 
Then, as in mockery of all, 
The tuneful spells that e'er did fall 
From vocal pipe, or ever more shall rise. 
He snarls, and mews, and flies. 
The Vermont League. 
The annual meeting of the Vermont Fish and Game 
League was held at Montpelier, Nov. 22. The attend- 
ance was the largest in the history of the association. 
One hundred and seventy-five plates were laid. 
At the business meeting in. the afternoon the following 
officers were elected for the year ensuing: 
President, J. W. Titcomb, St Johnsbury; secretary, 
Edward T. Bradley, Swanton; treasurer, Charles F. 
Lowe, Montpelier; vice-presidents, W. R. Peake, Bris- 
tol; N. W. Fisk, Isle La Motte; F. D. Proctor, Proctor; 
E. C. Smith, St. Albans; W. S. Webb, Shelburne; T. N. 
Vail, Lyndonville; Erastus Baldwin, Wells River; J. G. 
McCullough, Bennington; P. H. Hadley, Bellows Falls, 
and an executive committee comprising one from each 
county, as follows: Addison county, D. H. Lewis, Ver- 
gennes; Bennington county, J. W. Fowler, Manchester; 
Caledonia county, Henry Blodgett of St. Johnsbury; 
Chittenden county, J. B. Henderson, Burlington; Essex 
county, F. D. Hale, Lunenburgh; Franklin county, T. 
M. Deal, St. Albans; Grand Isle county, E. S. Fleury, 
Isle La Motte; Lamoille county, C. H. Stearns, John- 
son; Orange county, F. C. Kinney, Greensboro; Rut- 
land county, Ira R. Allen, Fair Haven; Washington 
county, L. Bart Cross, Montpelier; Windham county, 
Kittredge Haskins, Brattleboro; Windsor County, J. E. 
Pollard, Chester. The total membership of the league 
is now 636. 
Following the discussion of the good things provided 
by the banquet committee, President Titcomb an- 
nounced that the skin of the bear which the party had 
just eaten would be auctioned off by Representative Bal- 
lard, of Georgia, who made a humorous speech and 
finally disposed of the pelt to Representative Viall for 
$13. 
George M. Powers, as toastmaster, introduced Secre- 
tary of State Howland, who said in part: 
"Mr. Powers has frequently asked me to visit him at 
Morrisville, and has always told me that I should find a 
little game going up there. All fish and game interests 
have been wonderfully advanced and improved by the 
efforts of Mr. Titcomb. But a few sessions ago only 
three or four bills concerning these matters came up at 
each session, and now they are a most important feature. 
Interest your members and senators to do what they 
can to promote all legislation for the benefit of this 
great industry." 
Hon. H. C. Ide said: "The fish and game laws in 
the British colonies are well defined and executed. 
Hunting and fishing is licensed to individuals in the 
open season. The original settlers brought their game 
laws from old England. In New Zealand rabbits were 
introduced and carefully protected for game purposes. 
They breed so fast that residents are compelled by law 
to hunt and exterminate them. In the Fiji Islands rats 
destroyed everything, and the mongoose was brought in 
to exterminate the rats. Now the mongoose is so plenty 
that a price is put on his head. I hear that deer are 
becoming so plenty that they are devastating your fields 
and gardens, and it may be that in the near future you 
will make laws to compel yourselves to shoot deer to 
prevent them from destroying everything." Mr. Ide 
objected to the multiplicity of tax collectors, and sug- 
gested an open season for them, He had noticed a 
law in prospect making a close season for millionaires 
in Vermont, or preventing their hunting by tax collec- 
tors for a number of years. Then there might be an 
open season of a few days each year. 
Ex- Lieutenant Governor Fisk said: "The difference 
between millionaires in Vermont and rabbits in New 
Zealand is that the former do not multiply as rapidly as 
we could wish. All the millionaires in Vermont belong 
to this league, and are among its most useful members." 
He commended the great work of Mr. Titcomb for 
good and wholesome laws, and hoped he would in time 
be in the office of United States Fish Commissioner. 
Mr. Titcomb then addressed the gathering: "I would 
not care to be a cofnmissioner unless I had the League 
behind me," he said. "Let us all see that the laws are 
enforced and upheld. Speak well of the work and the 
object of it. Show your neighbors what is being done. 
In every town in Vermont into which we haven't sent 
trout we have sent blanks to the selectmen and they have 
been ignored. Every application is answered and filled. 
Stream? are being constantly fished and must be con- 
stantly filled." 
Fishing at Carlsbad* 
Sing Sing, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: Several 
weeks ago a correspondent of yours wrote of "Trout 
Fishing in Carlsbad, Bohemia." I will tell you of an ex- 
perience I had at the same place. 
We hired a conveyance and were driven to a place 
;alled Puchstein, about six miles in the depths of the 
Schwarzwald, southeast of Carlsbad. It is here that the 
famous Gieshuebler Spring is situated. For a small 
amount I was allowed to fish in the stream flowing by 
the hotel. At the end of an hour I succeeded in hooking 
foul a muddy carp — the stream had been pronounced well 
stocked with forellen! This wasn't the end of my fishing. 
Flowing from the east through a beautiful valley, and 
on through the center of Carlsbad, is a stream which 
teems with trout. I doubt if any lover of trout fishing 
ever passed this brook without casting covetous 
glances in the clear pools, where lurked monster 
trout plainly visible to the naked eye. This 
brook was at the foot of Franz Joseph's Hohe — so the 
gentleman who wrote the article will probably recollect 
it. In my daily walks between sips of Sprudel and 
Felsenquelle, I would take rolls, pieces of bread and even 
large red ox-heart cherries, which would be snapped 
up in a twinkle by the voracious denizens of the forbidden 
stream. 
I endured this for weeks, till at last one day I found 
myself buying fish-hooks in the shop on the corner back 
of the Kurhaus. The next morning, with my cane, a 
ece of twine and a couple of cherries sliced I sneaked 
jt of the hotel, and without getting in line for my cus- 
tomary drink soon reached the spot where a certain old 
"thumper" held forth. The only people in sight were two 
elderly gentlemen, whom I knew to be visitors in 
search of health, like myself. I slipped in between the 
rails, and in the time it takes to tell it had my tackle 
hitched on the cane and made a cast. Splash! I 
pulled too quick; at least four big trout came after the 
cherry. I glanced around, and saw three guards coming 
leisurely down the path about 200yds. from me. I 
crouched down under the wall and they passed without 
seeing me. Out went my cherry. Zip! I had him the 
minute it touched the water. After as gamy a struggle 
as a trout could put up against such railroading tactics 
I had him at my feet, a 2-pounder. His head went into 
an envelope, the envelope in my pocket and the fish I 
had for dinner— all the sweeter for the risk. 
The River Eger, flowing through the Valley of Hans 
Huyling north of Carlsbad, -is reported to be well 
stocked with trout. Chas. G. Blandface. 
Illinois Bass Stocking. 
Nov. 12.— President Nat. H. Cohen, of the Illinois 
Fish Commission, writes me this week, conveying some 
very good news about the work with the young bass 
this' season.- and expressing the hope that the people of 
Illinois will take a hand in this saving of the innocents 
next year, and hold up the hands of the commission in 
this interesting and valuable work. It is proof of the 
soundness of the methods of the Illinois Commission, in 
that they have been copied by men of other States, as 
Wisconsin and Minnesota, though this method of saving- 
bass has not been, I think, taken up officially by the com- 
mission of any State but Illinois. The letter of the 
hustling commissioner follows: 
"I take pleasure in informing you that the Illinois 
Fish Commission has been making several plants in the 
State in the last few weeks, liberating in public and 
private waters 25,000 black bass, most of them taken in 
and about Meredosia, from the sloughs and bayous ad- 
jacent to the Illinois River. Car No. 3 has taken its 
full capacity this week to deposit at Lake Villa, and in 
lakes in Lake county. These are unusually large for this 
year's fish, and if sufficient protection could be afforded 
in lakes mentioned, a few years would show wonderful 
results. Over 150,000 bass have been taken by the com- 
mission from the waters mentioned. Most of these fish 
would have perished in August and September by the 
heat evaporating the water, leaving the fish without ac- 
cess to the deeper waters. Our work is almost closed 
for the season, and I consider this the greatest year the 
Illinois Fish Commisison has ever had in the distribution 
of bass. If the next "Legislature increases our appro- 
priation sufficiently to procure a larger boat and employ 
a lafger crew, we will be able to save and distribute 
hundreds of thousands of bass that now perish." 
E. Hough. 
