S50 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 28, 1899. 
The tone of the book is wholesome. There is nothing 
ill it that can harm any boy. Its hero is a fine manly 
tittle fellow, who develops rapidly under the good in- 
fluence of the old man Hugh. "The volume is good 
reading for a boy who has a bent for an outdoor life and 
a fondness for hunting. 
One is impressed by the amount of information im- 
parted on every page of the book, and this information 
is of a kind interesting to the most casual reader. The 
story is so told that all the way through one feels the 
reality of the pleasant life. Jack's faithful friend Hu^i 
is a delightful character, with his quaint manner of 
speech, and his evident pleasure in "Son's" progress in 
prairie craft. He watches over him, advises and teaches 
him, and sometimes scolds a bit; as after the adventure 
with the mountain lion, where Jack's thoughtless rash- 
ness had brought him into a position of some danger. 
The book is one that old and young alike may enjoy 
and value as. a picture of what ranch life was to a boy 
a few years ago. It has one point in common with the 
dime novel; every boy who reads these chapters will im- 
mediately have a longing — but in this case a healthy 
longing— for the free, glorious life of that wonderful 
Western land. 
The book is handsomely illustrated by eight drawings 
by Mr. E. W. Demtng, which picture with singular 
fidelity the country of the high and dry plateau of the 
central Rocky Mountain region. H. G. P. 
ANGLING NOTES« 
Water' Fleas. 
Prof. C. D wight Marsh writes me from Ripon 
College, AVisc'onsin, as follows: 
^ "Newspaper reports arc not always to be trusted. 
Green Lake is in Wisconsin instead of Maine, and 
Ripon Cdllege is in the same States as the lake. I wish 
t!he papers had made no worse mistakes than in locating 
me; but I am sorry to say that they have made me re- 
sponsible for some very strange statements. 
"The work that I have been doing is on the Crustacea, 
which, as- you probably know, form the ultimate source 
of food for our fish. I also have in hand a somewhat 
extended study of the plankton, which I hope to have 
in shape for publication before the summer of 1900. I 
take pleasure in sending you a copy of my last paper 
on the Green Lake fauna." 
So, after all, the mysis was not in Maine; but Green 
Lake, Wis., or Green Lake, Me., what I said of the 
opossum shrimp stands in all other respects as I wrote it. 
The paper Prof. Marsh sends me is exceedingly inter- 
esting, although it says very little in detail about the 
mysis and its life history; but the experiments, as I 
have read them, have sent my thoughts off in an entirely 
different direction from what I had anticipated. 
The investigations relate to limetic Crustacea, which 
for convenience and to avoid specific names as far as 
possible I shall group as water fleas. First let me quote 
a little as to where Prof. Marsh found the Crustacea: 
"In general, we may say that depth rather than extent of 
surface controls the character of crustacean fauna. This 
is strikingly shown in a comparison of Green Lake with 
Lake Winnebago. Lake Winnebago is situated about 
twenty-five miles from Green Lake, and is about twenty- 
eight miles long by eight to ten miles broad. Through 
its whole extent it is very shallow, being for most part 
from 10 to 30ft. in depth. Its crustacean fauna con- 
sists of those species characteristic of shallow lakes, 
being very dift'erent from that of Green Lake. * * * 
What depth may be considered as characterizing deep 
lakes it is difficult to state with certainty, and I suppose 
it is doubtful if an exact limit can be fixed; but I think 
it is about forty meters." 
This would be, approximately, 130ft.; but deep-water 
crustapea are found in shallow lakes that have "im- 
mediate and constant connection with the deeper lakes," 
as there is migration into them of forms characteristic 
of deep water. The lake that I previously referred to as 
the habitat of the opossum shrimp is about 200ft. deep, 
and as I then said had communication with the Great 
Lakes. Naturally I have assumed that such investiga- 
tions as Prof. Marsh reports would be of the utmost 
Talue in determining the food supply of our fishes, and 
be a great aid to those engaged in fishculture; but now 
it appears to me that the angler is to be benefited directly 
when in pursuit of fish as a sport, when these investi- 
gations are worlced out to their ultimate conclusions, by 
showing him where and at what times to fish to meet 
with success. Prof. Marsh investigated both the vertical 
and horizontal distribution of Crustacea in Green Lake, 
but I quote only from his conclusions as to vertical dis- 
tribution. It seem.s to be necessary to use the specific 
names of the water fleas, as they have no common names 
for each species; but what I wish to show will not be 
obscured because of this necessity: 
"I had supposed that there was a general movement of 
the whole body of Crustacea in such vertical migrations 
as existed. It is evident that this is not the case, for the 
different kinds have their individual peculiarities of 
distribution. ' ' *' 
"In the case of Diaptomus there is little or no vertical 
migration from any cause. 
"Episclmra avoids bright light, and has a preference 
for warm water, and shows both seasonal and diurnal 
migrations. 
"Limnocalanus is repelled by bright light and by a high 
temperature, hence its diurnal migration is more pro- 
nounced in cold weather. 
"Cyclops brevispinoms occurs most abundantly between 
five and twenty meters iti deoth. I have no evidence in 
regard ■R) its diurnal mirgrations. 
"Cyclops Hfwiatilis has no diurnal migration, but in 
its seasonal -^distribution shows a preference for the 
warmer water. i 
"Leptodora is a surface form. I have no cojiQlwsive i 
idence in regard to its diurnal migrations, _ .i^' 
"Daphnia kahlbergienses apparently moves toward the 
surface at night. 
"There is no appreciable difference in the seasonable 
distribution of Bosmina. There is a distinct diurnal mi- 
gration due to its attraction to light. 
"Daphnella has a diurnal migration, due to the fact that 
it IS repelled by the light. 
"I cannot make out from my collections that the winds 
have any effect on the vertical distribution of entomos- 
traca. The distribution when the surface is roughened 
by waves seems to be practically the same as when it 
is smooth. Neither is there any marked dift'erence be- 
tween dark and moonlight nights. 
"It must be remembered, however, that all my collec- 
tions were made A five-meter intervals, and that there 
may be migrations within these limits of which I have 
no indications. I know, for instance, from surface tows 
that the immediate surface is almost entirely devoid of 
entomostraca in the day time> but is populated in 
enormous numbers in the night. 
"There is evidently a very marked diurnal migration 
of most of the forms at the immediate surface, but it 
would take a series of collections at very short intervals 
to determine the limits of the general movement." 
Tables are given showing the per cent, of the various 
forms obtained at the difl:erent intervals of depth, but 
I have quoted enough to show how these investigations 
may naturally benefit the angler. All sorts of reasons 
are given why fish bite one day better than another, or at 
one part of the day better than another part of the same 
day, and fish are at one time in one depth of water and 
at another time in another depth. Temperature changes 
are _ often quoted to account for good fishing or poor 
fishing; but it is extremely doubtful if changes of tempera- 
ture influence the movements of fish as much as food 
conditions. Here we find daily migrations of food 
important to all our fresh-water fishes, particularly the 
so-called game fishes. Some forms of food seek the 
light at the surface; other forms avoid it, so that fish 
may feed at or near the surface at dawn or evening, and 
be obliged to seek the depths at other times to obtain 
subsistence. The fly-fisher examines the viscera of his 
fish to find upon which of the winged insects the fish 
are feeding, for the time; but other forms of food are 
not so often sought in the same manner, and the lake 
or pond fisherman trusts more to what some one else 
has done or his own previous experience without being 
governed particularly by food conditions, even if he 
knows or thinks anything about them. The black bass 
is generally understood to be the most capricious of our 
game fishes, and those who seek this fish usually carry 
a greater assortment of baits than for any other fish, 
and even then the fisherman may return from a day's 
fishing with basket empty. The possibilities of the 
future are that instead of providing a long list of baits 
of various kinds, the angler will be provided with a 
chart showing^ the depths of water, and another chart 
showing the distribution of food in the water, vertically 
and horizontally, and still another chart showing the 
migrations daily of the various fish foods in the water. 
Because I have carried a thermometer and a plumb line 
on fishing expeditions to take the temperature of the 
water and find the depth of water and character of the 
bottom I have caused much amusement to fishing com- 
panions, and I wonder what they would say to food 
charts, migration and distribution, if it comes that they 
should be added to one's fishing paraphernalia? Stranger 
things have happened than this, and this is an age of 
investigation and progress. To be sure, to know just 
where and when to f.nd one's fish will rob fishing of its 
speculative charm, and wiU be too near fishing by rule 
to please some anglers who like to find out from person- 
al experience and trying, where to fish and when to fish, 
and which baits to use to meet with success. These 
possibilities have suggested themselves to me as I have 
read the careful investigations of Prof. Marsh. Though 
fishculturists will be the first to avail themselves of the 
results of his work, the angler may come in later and 
get information that will insure a full creel and make fish- 
ing with hook and line approximately an exact science, 
Fly-Fishers' Club Again. 
While writing the above note a letter came to nie 
from the post office written by my daughter, now in 
London, from which I quote: "Last night Mr. 
Marston called and took us over to the Fly-Fishers' 
Club to show us the new quarters of the club, at No. 
8 Haymarket, so Ave could tell you about them. Why 
is it that the fly-fishermen at home have no club similar 
lo this?" Any one can search me, for I do not know 
why we in this country did not organize a similar fly- 
fishers' club years ago. There is nothing in the rules of 
the London Fly-Fishers' Qub about the admission of 
women, and until my daughter wrote that she had been 
to the club did I know of one visiting it; but the letter 
suggests to me that if a club should be organized in this 
country, with an annex for women, relatives of mem- 
bers, and put some women on an organization com- 
mittee, one would probably have a club before the trout 
rise to the fly next spring. 
Pafely Personal, 
Another letter from the other side concludes in such a 
way that I cannot resist quoting its conclusion. It is 
from Admiral Beardslee, and written from Brussels: 
"With the idea that while knocking about Europe as I 
have been doing for a year, I should lose a large propor- 
tion of my mail, I stopped nearly all of my papers and 
periodicals on starting, among them the Forest and 
Stream; and in regard to it, I feel that I have made a 
mistake. I miss it very much, and do not find it on sale 
here. I shall return home in November, when one of 
the first acts will be to renew my subscription." That 
is a sportsman's tribute to Forest and Stream, for T 
had said nothing about this paper to cause the Admiral 
to refer to it in his letter. Perhaps because I have been 
writing for the paper twenty-four years next March 
over my own name or a pen name, and Admiral Beards- 
lee has been writing for it for possibly nearly the same 
length of time at intervals over the name of Piseco, that in 
an interchange of letters Forest and Stream would natti- 
rally come into the mind of one or'both, for he has often 
mentiQne4 it in letters to xn^ from vgrioys portions f>f the 
globe. I can understand the feeling he has for the 
paper, as often, for weeks at a time, 1 have not opened 
it; but the time comes always when I do open and look 
through each number, and I always buy it when away 
from home and find it on sale, knowing my own copy 
is waiting to be read on my return. 
Ttiberculosis in Fishes. 
The following letter requires no introduction, as it is 
a query which clearly explains itself and is addressed 
to the State Board of Health of New York, from Ham- 
ilton, in the same State; 
"Will you kindly inform me if tuberculosis is some- 
times found in fishes? A certain proportion of pickerel 
caught in the State reservoir in the town of Madison, near 
here, have white bunches on their gills, to which the term 
'tubercle' seems most applicable. These tubercles vary in 
size from that of a pin head to that of a small lead pencil, 
occurring sometimes singly (only one in a fish), some- 
times in groups. Would a person be in danger of con- 
tracting the disease from handling the fish, even though 
not touching the gills? What would be the danger of 
eating the cooked flesh? Of course no one would care 
to eat them knowing them to be diseased, but might 
through ignorance. If desirable I can send a specimen 
of diseased gill if furnished with instructions for mailing. 
Yours, very truly, Henry Earle Rice." ' 
This letter came to me for a reply, and very promptly 
I wrote that "tuberculosis" such as described, whatever it 
might be, could not be communicated by a cold-blooded 
animal to a warm-blooded animal, and probably it was a 
parasite not dangerous to the human family. As I read 
this over to afiix my signature, it occurred to me that 
such a light and airy reply might not be suitable for so 
serious a query, and I sent the letter ofif to Prof. Gar- 
man for more serious consideration, and he writes me: 
"The inquiries concerning the diseased fish are not to be 
answered in a very positive manner. From time to time 
emaciated fishes, more or less blue from imperfect oxy- 
genation of the blood, with gills partially to almost com- 
pletely eaten away, have been sent to this museum in 
attempts to determine the cause of the trouble, and if pos- 
sible to ascertain what remedies might do away with their 
causes. Most often it has been the case that stomach and 
intestines contained nothing to aid in a diagnosis. 
The lack of flesh was due to the lack of nu- 
trition, which in turn was due to lack of food and im- 
pure blood, the latter taking precedence in impure water 
and the former in case of absence of prey. In impure 
water the impure blood accounts for thft disease; in case 
of simple starvation the impurity of the blood is sec- 
ondary. When weakened and diseased the fishes had be- 
come the prey of parasitic enemies, Saprolegnia or what- 
ever, which decay quickly and rarely reach us in condi- 
tion for determination. 
"These parasites account for the ulcers and sores over 
the surface, and for the destroyed gills; but they com- 
monl}'- are consequents that would not obtain if the fish 
were diseased; they are not the causes of the distress. 
In most cases where the trouble affects more than an 
occasional individual, when it becomes at all general, it 
is due to impurity in the water and to lack of food; the 
latter condition in cases primarily being induced by the 
former. However they are affected, the dying fishes, and 
the dead ones, become the food of the parasites. 
"In regard to tuberculosis, I know of no evidence of its 
occurrence in fishes. 
"The description given by our friend would apply to 
fishes preyed upon by certain parasites, whatever the 
original cause of disability. For myself, I should have 
no fear that the disease of the fishes was tuberculosis 
such as affects mankind, or that, whatever it is, it is 
transmissible to man." 
Every man who has anything to do with planting fish 
should commit to memory: "See that fish when planted 
have an abundance of suitable food, or do not plant them." 
Slowly but surely the people are coming to understand 
that fish require food and an abundance of it to be in 
good condition for catching or eating, and food is just 
as necessary for the good health of fish as it is for the 
good health of man. Many of the ills of fishes are 
traceable to lack of proper food or to some act of mankind 
akin to it. One of the best trout streams in New York, 
with water as nearly pure as any brook water can be, 
had a reservoir constructed near its source, ' flowing 
land cleared for the purpose of forming the pond. It 
was believed that the reservoir would become a great 
trout pond, but the dead and decaying vegetation in _ 
the overflow destroyed the food, the trout became sickly, " 
infested with parasites and died. The water itself had a 
stench that would drive a dog out of a tan yard, and 
though the reservoir was built to furnish a village with 
drinking water, until it was aerated by flowing over 
miles of the brook's bed it was the vilest looking stuff 
that was ever called water; it not only destroyed the 
trout, but, so far as I could find, killed everything in it. 
So far as appearances went that pond produced in fishes 
all the diseases that they are heir to. 
Owl Hooked by Angler, 
Years ago I wrote a note giving a list of things not 
fishes hooked by anglers when fishing. I cannot now 
put my hand on the list, and I cannot remember what 
it contained, but a friend in England sends me an item 
which he says may furnish an addition to the list, for it 
seems that he remembers it. He cut the item from the 
London Telegraphl and it states that an angler fishing the 
River Tyne and making a few last casts at dusk hooked 
a heavy object in midair, which proved to be an im- 
mature tawny owl. It does not say whether the owl 
took the fly or was foul hooked on the back cast. I 
cannot recall whether I had an owl in the list or not, 
but I do remember that I had a deer as one of the 
things hooked by a fly-fisherman. In this case a friend 
of the late Dr. Up De Graff cast his fly over a deer that 
was crossing the stream as he was wading it for fly- 
fishing, and the deer took flies, leader and reel line, and 
disappeared in the brush. 
Red Troat. 
The red trout with forked tail, which I mentioned re- 
cently as having been caught in a lake of the Triton 
Club, Canada, by Mr. George H<^rt, of Waterbyry-j 
