ACCLIMATIZATION OF FISH IN THE PACIFIC STATES. 
471 
The following' correspondence, which passed between the California hsh commis- 
sion and the United States Fish Commission regarding the acclimatization of alewives, 
is self-explanatory: 
[Letter of California Fisli Commissioners, dated May 10, 1895.] 
We have had some correspondence with reference to the introduction of the alewife into Cali- 
fornia waters, and would be glad to have your opinion as to the advisability of such a step. We are 
informed that the young fish can be taken in great numbers in Maine waters when going to sea from 
the spawning-grounds, and if such is the case it would not he a difficult matter to secure the right 
kind of fish for transj)ortation. Do you consider them a desirable fish for our waters, and would the 
conditions here he favorable to their development? 
[Letter of United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, dated May 10, 1895.] 
Regarding the transplanting of alewives from the east coast to California, permit me to say that 
there is little doubt that the waters of your State are adapted to the alewife, and there is every reason 
to believe that the introduction of the fish would prove as successful as that of the shad. At the same 
time this commission is not satisfied that the acclimatization of the fish is necessary or even desirable. 
As food-fish, both the branch alewife (Clupea pseudoharengus) and the glut herring or summer alewife 
( Clupea wstivalis) are inferior to the shad, and the low estimation in which the latter fish is now held 
in San Francisco suggests that the smaller and less valuable alewives would meet with little favor on 
the part of the fishermen, fish dealers, and the general public. If introduced into the Sacramento River 
and San Francisco Bay they would doubtless be excellent food for the striped bass and other fish-eating 
species; but there is already a great abundance of carp, which are known to constitute the principal 
food of the striped bass, and the introduction of the alewives for this purpose does not seem to be 
demanded. While it is the habit of these fish to return to the sea, like the salmon and shad, the branch 
alewife at least is susceptible of cultivation in landlocked lakes and other waters, where it might 
have economic value or furnish food for black bass or trout. 
Alewives are found along the entire eastern coast of the United States north of Florida, and there 
are important fisheries in North Carolina, Maryland, and Massachusetts. Fish for transplanting could 
therefore doubtless be as readily secured in other States as in Maine. This Commission does not 
propagate these fish. It is not possible to transport the adult fish across the continent, and if would 
probably he unfeasible to carry yearlings, and, in the opinion of this Commission, the acclimatization 
of the alewives in California could only be accomplished by means of fry 
THE DIAMOND-BACK TERRAPIN. 
There is probably no fishery product of the Eastern States whose introduction to 
the west coast could be more easily consummated and prove more welcome than the 
diamond-back terrapin (Malaclemmys palustris). The wide distribution of the animal 
on the Atlantic seaboard — from Rhode Islaud to Mexico — suggests that it would prob- 
ably live along the entire coast of California and possibly farther north. 
In an article* on the fisheries of the Pacific Coast prepared by the writer the 
following reference to the diamond-back terrapin and the west coast native terrapin 
is made: 
The question is often asked by eastern fishermen and dealers whether the diamond-hack terrapin 
is found on the Pacific Coast; and, if not, whether there is an acceptable substitute therefor. 
The diamond-back terrapin ( Malaclemmys palustris) does not exist on the west coast, and the 
genus is not there represented. The California terrapin ( Chelopus marmoratus), the only member of 
the order which has yet attained commercial prominence on the coast, is much inferior to the diamond- 
back in food value. The conditions seem excellent for the successful introductiou of the diamond-back 
terrapin to the west coast. The extensive salt marshes around San Francisco Bay and in other places 
would doubtless supply a suitable habitat for the auimal, whose high food value would in time bring 
it into active demand aud stimulate cultivation and a profitable trade. 
* Notes on a reconuoissance of the fisheries of the Pacific Coast of the United States in 1894. Bul- 
letin United States Fish Commission 1894, pp. 223-288. 
