DOMESTIC FISH-PONDS.-—NO. 2. 
215 
part of Europe, can be introduced into this country, 
is proved beyond a doubt, as Capt. Henry Robinson, 
late master of one of the Havre packets, of New¬ 
burgh, N.Y., imported fromFrancein 1831 and 1832, 
six or seven dozen of these fish, and put them into 
some ponds on his estate, where they have bred 
freely every year since. They were brought in 
small parcels of two or three dozen each, about 
two-thirds of which perished on their passage. 
For a few years past he has put from one to two 
dozen, every spring, into the Hudson, near his re¬ 
sidence, and they have multiplied so fast, that the 
fishermen frequently take them in their nets. It is 
stated that, in Mr. Robinson’s ponds, which are 
small, they acquire a length of three or four inches 
the first year; but owing to the limited space in 
which they have to move, they do not ordinarily 
attain a length of more than ten or twelve inches. 
In the Hudson, however, they considerably exceed 
that size. They breed twice a year—the middle of 
May and of July. 
The common perch ( Perea fluviatilis ) of Europe 
is so very tenacious of life, that it could readily be 
imported into the United States, as it has been 
known to survive a journey of nearly sixty miles, 
when merely packed in wet straw ! 
If; The successful removal of several species of fish 
from one body of water to another, in this country, 
is known with certainty, as may be seen by 
perusing a paper by the late Dr. Mitchill, in the 
third volume of the “ Medical Repository.” He 
states that, in 1790, Uriah Mitchill, high sheriff of 
Queen’s county, N. Y., and himself, went in a 
wagon to Ronkonkoma Pond, in Suffolk county, a 
distance of about forty miles. “ The object of our 
journey,” he says, “ was to transport alive, some 
of the yellow perch ( Perea flavescens) with which 
this body of water abounds, to Success Pond, in 
the town of North Hempstead. W e took about 
three dozen of those which had been wounded 
most superficially by the hook, and we were so 
fortunate as to dismiss all of them but two into 
Success Pond, in a condition vigorous enough to 
swim away. We were enabled to do this by filling 
a very large churn with the water of Ronkonkoma 
Pond, and putting so few fishes into it that there 
was no necessity of changing it on the road, and 
afterwards driving steadily on a walk the whole 
distance, without stopping to refresh either man or 
horse. In two years, these fishes multiplied so 
fast, and became so numerous, that they might be 
caught with the hook in any part of the water, 
which is about a mile in circumference.” Another 
instance is recorded in the fortieth volume of Silli- 
man’s “ American Journal of Science and Arts,” by 
a correspondent from Otisco, N. Y. “ About 15 
years since,” says the writer, “ Mr. Robert Kinyon, 
then living in the village of Amber, on the east 
shore of Otisco Lake, in Onondaga county, deter¬ 
mined to make an effort to introduce into its waters, 
yellow perch from the Skaneateles, in the waters of 
which they abound; pickerel, from the cluster of 
lakes or ponds that constitute the extreme northern 
sources of the Tioughuioga branch of the Susque- 
hannah river, in some of which this fish is very 
plentiful. Neither of these fishes had been seen in 
the Otisco; but suckers, an occasional white fish 
from the lakes, and the delicious speckled trout 
abounded in its waters, as well as the smaller fishes 
common to all our lakes. In the Skaneateles. only- 
three miles distant, were found the perch and the 
salmon trout, both strangers to the Otisco. A 
dozen perch of medium size were caught with 
hooks, put in a barrel of water, and transported 
from one lake to the other without difficulty. The 
third year from their removal, the Otisco seemed to 
be filled with them; and I have frequently heard it 
remarked, that in that, and the succeeding year, the 
perch, both for size and number, exceeded that of 
any year since in these respects. A quan¬ 
tity of pickerel were the same season introduced in 
the same way; but they have not multiplied. 
Indeed, we have never heard of a fish of this kind 
being taken in the Otisco.” 
Change of Residence of Fish from Salt Water to 
Fresh. —The introduction of salt-water fish into 
fresh ponds or lakes, has often been attempted both 
in Europe and in America, and in a few instances 
has been attended with success. In the London 
“ Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and 
Art,” for 1826, several species of fish are mention¬ 
ed, as having been transported from salt water into 
fresh, and that their flavor had been improved by 
the change. The sole became twice as thick as a 
fish of the same size from the sea. The plaice also 
increased materially in thickness—in some cases, 
appearing three times as thick as when grown in 
salt water. The barse likewise turned much thick¬ 
er, and improved in delicacy. The mullet almost 
ceased to increase in length, but enlarged in 
breadth, and presented a much deeper layer of fat. 
In the same journal last mentioned, for the year 
1824, we learn that the smelt ( Osmerus eperlanus) 
had been kept four years by Mr. Meynell, of 
Yarm. in Yorkshire, in a fresh-water pond, having 
no communication with the sea, and there “ grew 
well, and bred as freely, as under other circum¬ 
stances.” In the “ Philosophical Transactions,” 
for 1771, we find the following extract in a note, 
by Daines Barrington, then Vice President of the 
Royal Society, to a letter from John Reinhold. 
Foster, “ On the Management of Carp in Polish 
Prussia.”—“ I have been informed by Sir Francis 
Barnard (the late Governor of New England), that 
in a large pool which he rented not far from Bos¬ 
ton, and which had not the least communication 
with the sea, several of these fish (American smelt, 
Osmerus viridescens ?) originally introduced from 
salt water, had lived many years, and were, to all 
appearance, very healthy.” As Governor Barnard’s 
residence w 7 as not far from Jamaica Pond, in Rox- 
bury, Mass., there can be but little doubt that the 
“ large pool” mentioned in the above-named note, 
referred to that body of w T ater. Dr. D. H. Storer, 
in reporting to. the Boston Society of Natural His¬ 
tory, in 1840, oh some smelts taken from this pond, 
said, “ The specimens, you perceive, are conside¬ 
rably smaller than those purchased in our market 
—all that I have seen from this pond, for the last 
year, are smaller than those commonly met wdth. 
From the quantities yearly taken, how r ever, they 
must have increased considerably in number, and 
their flesh has lost nothing of its sweetness or flavor , 
as I have repeatedly had opportunities of testing.” 
Among other instances in which fish from the 
sea have been made to reside in fresh water, pia y 
