Feb, 3, 1900.] 
"That reminds mc" 
That Bear* 
Cambriugeport, Mass., Jan. 21,— Editor Forest and 
Stream: In your last issue a "Camp- Fire" signed J. P. 
T., asks for a particular bear story. Inform him that he 
will find it in two of Capt. Mayne Reid's works. The 
original story in the "Scalp Hunters," and again in a 
camp-fire story told in "The Hunters' Feast." In niy 
boyhood days I owned or read all of his works, and there 
were lots of them — twenty-five or more — and about the 
only way to keep me quiet was to give me a Mayne Reid. 
Three of them might be seasonable now, "The Bush 
Boys," "The Young Yagers" and "The Giral? Hunters." 
all about the .same boys. All of his stories contain lots of 
unformation about fauna, flora and kindred subjects, as 
known when the books were written. I would like to 
know of any information that Forest and Stream 
readers cannot furnish if asked the same way this was. 
My regards to Pine Tree, and ask him to excuse my 
snapping the information out of his mouth, for I have 
no doubt that he possesses it as well as lots of others. 
E, C, Neal. 
ElmirAj Jan. 21. — Editor Forest and Stream: That 
"Old Bear Story" spoken of by J. P. T. in your last 
week's paper, is in the "Hunters' Feast," a book written 
by Capt. Mayne Reid. J, P. T. is .a little mixed. His elk 
was a big-horn, ^vhich was killed. Only one bear was 
killed, that by the Indian in his death struggle. The 
weather changed to a freeze, and they walked out on the 
crust, C. B. Stuart. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The author of the bear story in the old school readers 
to which J. H. P. refers, was that prince of writers for 
the boys of those days, Capt. Mayne Reid. I am not 
quite sure of the title of Capt. Reid's book in which the 
story was published, but think that it is one of the two 
entitled "The Himters' Feast" and "The Scalp Hunters." 
One of the Old Boys. 
Enter Town Crier — "Oyez, oj^ez, oyez ! Lost! Ding 
dons?, ding dong ! Lost! 'Lost! A bear! A bear I A 
beafi" 
Enter Friend Ames— "Hi ! Found! A bear! A bear! 
Where, and who's the owner?" 
And here is he just round the corner almost from 
Brother A., who knows him better than he does his 
initials. 
J. P. T. is just as grateful to the Forest and Stream, 
however, in "bringing them together," since it really has 
done so, doubtless showing to each of us a new side 
among the various facts which make up our respective 
lives, polished or otherwise. J. P. T. will use the 'phone, 
but first will write, as you can't send a photograph as yet 
by that wire. 
Yes, indeed, does he remember that deathwail of the 
Shawano? Although the word "Shawnee" was hovering 
nebulously like a will-o'-the-wisp in his hand. As to 
friend Locke — well, the last time seen he and the writer 
Avere in a snare over a catch in arithmetic, and when 
he called the writer John, the latter did not arise and 
.smite him; ft^r he's been thus to him for many a 
year. 
But to the bear in school. Wishywashy is the substi- 
tute which our kind friend-in-ehief, the editor, has found 
for us, as stated in his editorial column ; and the writer 
recalls the spasm of aversion with which he too read 
tliat tale of the angelic bear in snowy raiment ; and ad; 
mits that the reader bear is a species not yet classified and 
docketed in the sportsman's museum. Yet he has some 
good points. Charles Dudley Warner's "How I Killed a 
Bear" now is being read all over New York State in th'- 
Regents' schools, J. P. T. believes, although covered up 
by the more telling story of "A-Hunting of the Deer" in 
t!ie same little volume — a story which is calculated to 
make a man gun with a camera when he reaches the 
writer's years. Warner's bear-story is one bubbling bit 
of sheer fun, all the way through. 
How do I know about it 'way off here? Why, brother, 
I'm addicted to schoolbooks too, as well as Brother Ames, 
and have been for some sixteen years. I've even been 
guilty of writing a bear-story for school use myself which 
might even suit our friend, the editor, for its the tale 
of a single-handed, grim and rattling fight with arrow, 
spear and battle axe against polar craft and "eleven men's 
strength," as our wild ancestors, the Vikings, found it 
far before gunpowder days; and if the editor is curious 
to know what it looked like, let him borrow some boy's 
copy of "The Iron Star" and look at the picture of the 
_voung Viking's scrap on page 77. I could a tale unfold 
aliout the picture of that bear. About sixteen other bears 
^at for that likeness, till the artist dreamed bears, and 
-aid she saw them walking round on the footboard of 
the bed in the ghostly moonlight. And the book— a won- 
der story running from the days of the Cavemen to Miles 
Standish — is being used already as a reader in some 
scliools. So now! But all the same. I want to know 
more yet about that bald-headed bear fighter of the long 
ago, Wake up some more brothers, who can tell me'' 
J. P. T. 
Wetste/s Collegiate Dictioaary. 
The G. & C. Merriam Company, Springfield. Mass., 
send us their Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. The book 
presents in convenient form the most essential parts of the 
International. It is compact and complete, and altogether 
the most satisfactory of all the abridged dictionaries of 
the day. 
The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
latest "hy Monday and as mncli earlier as practicable. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
f mid gim S^m^ 
ANGLING NOTES. 
The Eel. 
The eel bids fair to cause a good deal of guessing about 
its habits, particularly its breeding, before every one is 
satisfied as to where, when and how it reproduces. That 
period in which it was supposed to spring from chopped 
horse hairs thrown into the water, is safely passed, and 
the hermaphrodite period is also lichind us, with Oppian s 
belief that they were born of the .slime which covers 
them. Pliney, too, had a whack at them, and in that 
epoch they were supposed to be produced from particles 
separated from their own bodies. There are other periods 
like the "mud" and "Maydew" periods passed without 
serious accident to any one, and now we are slap-bang 
up against a "white deposit" whicli, in far-away New 
Zealand, produces eels or something somebody thinks is 
eels. When I read the item in the London Gazette I won- 
dered just what Marston thouglit about it, for the paper 
tells what he said. Now, is it not curious that for years 
scientists in different parts of the world should have been 
observing the habits of the eel as closely as the slippery 
subject will permit, and racking their intellects to dis- 
cover their breeding habits, particularly where they bred, 
and that finding it should have been discovered by children 
at Folly Farm, that the eels were breeding and the young 
were hatching in the lagoon back of the house. I do not 
know who named that farm in New Zealand, but I am 
of the opinion that New Zealand ought by right to have 
another guess. 
If those keen-eyed children who "could tell the rnales 
and females whenever they saw them in the water" are 
carefully reared and their eyesight cultivated, we will in 
time know from actual observation what kind of crops are 
raised on the planet Mars. 
When one reads the literature of the eel and realizes 
that the search for the female eel began, scientifically, at 
the end of the middle ages, and has extended to our time, 
and the search for the male was very similar, one can 
imagine that the scientists of Europe must have suflfered 
fron^ defective eyesight. Here is a sample or incident in 
the search for a female eel : 
"The eel question came up again with more satisfactory 
results -when, in the year 1777, another eel was taken at 
Comacchio, which sliowed the same appearance as the two 
which had preceded it. This eel was received by Prof. 
Cajetan Monti, who, being indisposed and unable to 
carry on the investigation alone, sent a number of his 
pupils to a council at his house, among whom was the cele- 
brated Camillo Galvani, the discoverer of galvanism. The 
eel was examined by them all and pronounced to be pre- 
cisely similar to the one described by Vallisneri seventy 
years before." (The naturalist ValHsneri had had an eel 
submitted to him by a learned doctor of Comacchio, and 
after careful examination had pronounced it a female, 
but the scientific men of Bologna had serious doubts as to 
the correctness of this discovery.) "It was unanimously 
decided that this precious specimen should be sent for 
exhaustive examination to the naturalist Mondini, who 
applied himself with great zeal to the task, the results 
of which were published in May, 1777." Briefly, IMondini 
found that the specimen was not a female, but if that coun- 
cil had possessed the eyesight of the New Zealand children 
it would not have been necessary for Mondini to apply 
himself with zeal to show that Vallisneri, seventy years 
before, was in error. 
The late Prof. -Goode, under the heading "Strange Mis- 
statements in Ichthyological Literature," said of a state- 
ment, similar to the Folly Farm declaration, made by 
Guido Lindenhain in the Austro-Hungarian Fishing 
Gazette : "The fanciful contributor, among other wonder- 
ful things, claims to have discovered the spawning of the 
eel in rivers and ponds. I will allow the very sagacious 
gentleman to recount his summer night's dream in his 
own words, in order to show with what certainty and 
precision the most baseless fables concerning the natural 
history of the eel are even yet narrated." This seems 
to be a good place to say farewell to the New Zealand 
eel-spawning-in-fresh-water incident, for it would not 
interest Forest and Stream readers to rehearse the dream 
of Lindenhain so soon after the one in the last issue of 
this paper taken from the London Gazette. 
"Red Spinnet." 
Mr. William Senior, so long the angling editor of the 
London Field, and who, as Mr. Hallock lately told in 
this paper, has taken his leave of daily journalism, has 
been appointed editor-in-chief of the Field, and began his 
duties with the New Year, but he will continue to have the 
angling department of the paper in his especial charge 
under the pen nam.e of Red Spinner." There are several 
British anglers — Senior, Marston, Harnesworth, Aflalo 
and others, whom it has been my good fortune and pleas- 
ure to know for a greater or less number of years, 
charming men all of them, and master anglers, who are 
really pioneers in an anglo-American alliance, for they 
have done much to establish cordial relations between 
the anglers who are separated by the salt sea. The last 
letter received from Francis Francis, who was Mr. 
Senior's predecessor in the Field, was filled with expres- 
sions of friendly feeling for American anglers, and if 
ever there should come a difference between the two 
countries, which God forfend, and it is referred to a com- 
mittee of anglers on both sides to arbitrate, they would 
speedily arrange the difliculty, for one of the men I have 
mentioned would undoubtedly be chairman and select the 
others for colleagues, and then all would join in a fish- 
ing excursion. Mr. Senior will have the congratulations 
of many anglers on this side in his labors in his new 
field on the Field. 
Parmachecee Clab/ 
A report of a committee on the operation.5 of the 
hatchery at Parmachenee Lake, Me., signed by three 
members of the club, has "just been received, and to me it 
is particularly interesting because of one paragraph which 
is this: "Your committee is glad to report that the syc*- 
89 
cess of the planting both of shrimp and smelt in our 
waters seems to be assured. Shrimp were found in the 
trout caught at Lower Black, and adult smelt were found 
on the shore of the lake last spring. The salmon taken 
this year were well fed, and in good condition." 
I had some correspondence on the subject of planting 
natural food at Parmachenee Club with Mr. Henry P. 
Trells, one of the committee, two or three years ago, and 
it is pleasant to know that the food planting has proven 
successful. If fishermen generally would interest them- 
selves in the matter of supplying food to the waters they 
fisli, they would get returns that would surprise them, but 
if people whose business it should be to pursue the matter 
will not take an active part in supplying food, they 
must be the chief sufferers. More and more owners of 
private preserves and fishing associations are awakening 
to the necessity of supplying food for the fish in their 
waters, but the great public waters are still, as a rule, de- 
pendent upon the little that State commissions can do 
unaided by suggestions which should come from those 
intimately acquainted with the waters requiring attention. 
The Parmachenee Club has been active, in this direction 
almost from its organization, and yet the club is situated 
in what is termed the "great woods of Maine," and would 
seem to be about the last to need such attention, but its 
officers are thinking men, and realized that food must 
be supplied when they began the artificial cultivation of 
trout and salmon. Another paragraph from the report 
will doubtless be of interest to all who rear trout in 
remote preserves : 
"Your committee has given a great deal of time and 
attention to the question of food supply in a countfy 
situated as ours is, and by a process of elimination has 
arrived at the unanimous conclusion that fresh milk 
curdled at once with rennet is the best food for all young 
fry, and can always be used with good results for older 
fish. It is also found to be the cheapest food and the 
most easily obtained." 
In speaking of the catches, a trout of 6 pounds is 
recorded, which is larger than the record when I was 
there before food planting was inaugurated, and I predict 
that this record will be broken as food planting progresses. 
The report is illustrated with some excellent half-tones, 
showing hatchery ponds, and is signed by Robert Sturgis, 
Henry P. Trells and M. Dwight Collier. 
Giant TfotJt of Maine. 
I am glad that my notes have led me up into Maine 
beyond the Rangeley region, for this is a good place to in- 
troduce a newspaper clipping in regard to Rangeley trout. 
I do not know where it came from, but it was sent to me 
exactly as I paste it on my manuscript.^ I have even for- 
gotten who sent it, but it has been hiding about my desk 
for some time, and occasionally came to the surface, and 
now here it is : 
"Senator Frye, of Maine, who is a great trout fisher, 
eays: 'I once called on Prof. Agassiz, who was a great 
authority on fish, and asked him to go with me' to Range- 
ley Lakes to fish for trout. As an inducement I told him 
of the splendid speckled trout there, weighing from 10 to 
14 pounds each. When I said this, the Professor gave me 
a pitiful smile and said: "I have just completed a 
treatise, in which I have demonstrated that it is im- 
possible for a speckled trout to weigh over 4 pounds." I 
knew better, but knew that I could not convjnce him by 
argument. So I went on to Rangeley, and next day 
caught two speckled beauties, one of which weighed 10 
and the other 12 pounds. I packed them in ice, and sent 
them by express to Prof. Agassiz. By return mail, I re- 
ceived from him a letter, saying: "My dear Senator, the 
theory of a lifetime has been kicked to death by a single 
fact."'" 
There is no introduction, but it does not require one, 
as it is strong enough to stand alone, and it can speak 
for itself. 
It is extremely doubtful if Senator Frye ever said any- 
thing of this kind (I am trying to state this thing mildly 
and therefore do not say all I think about the statement 
in the clipping), and just as doubtful if Agassiz ever 
made such a reply, and it is still more doubtful if Senator 
Frye went on to Rangele^^ incidentally, and in an off-hand 
manner caught two trout (I know he did not say "'speckled 
beauties," and am willing to charge that to the printer) 
of -10 and 12 pounds each, and finally that last sentence 
does not sound like Agassiz. 
It is all of twenty-five years ago that Dr. Fessenden N. 
Otis, of New York City, a member of the Oquossac Club, 
wrote me about the Agassiz incident. Trout were sent to 
Agassiz, and they were large trout, but not 10 and 12 
pounders, and he was asked as to their species and prob- 
able age. He pronounced them brook trout, fontinalis, 
and said he could not determine their age. 
Until I read this clipping I never heard of a treatise 
to prove that a fish could not grow to exceed a certain 
weight, and doubt if any scientist has time to devote to 
such a treatise, because scientists do not write for the 
funny papers. 
There are a great many doubts in this note, but I shall 
adhere to them until Senator Frye has an opportunity 
to amend the complaint. 
Biting Smelt. 
In my note on tlie smelt last week, I forgot entirely a 
story I had stored up as an offset to Frank Forester's 
allegation that the Eastern smelt did not bite a baited 
hook. The story is of John Quincy Adams, who was a 
gentle disciple of the gentle Walton, and it seems that a 
client of his on the morning of the day that his case was 
to be called in Boston could not find his counsel, but 
hearing that he was fishing, he followed him to his lair. 
Adams would not even leave his fishing boat, but did 
write a note to the presiding justice, who, after reading 
it, announced that Mr. Adams was detained on important 
business, and was unable to be present in court that day. 
The note read: "Dear Judge, for the sake of old 
Izaak Walton, please continue my case until Friday. The 
smelt are biting and I cannot leave." 
Fis&lng in Jane. 
The reference I made to fishing for salmon in June 
aroused a very dear friend to write me this mofhfng on 
the subject, and I quote in part from his letter: 
^ ,* _ "WaterbukYj Conn., Jan, 22. 
