1874 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
333 
The Grayling. 
The fish culturists have during the present 
season been much excited over the Grayling 
and its artificial propagation. That most ex¬ 
cellent authority 
upon all that relates 
to hunting and fish¬ 
ing, Forest and 
Stream , has devoted 
much space to mak¬ 
ing this fish known 
to anglers and fish 
culturists. The fish 
is quite abundant in 
some of the 'West¬ 
ern waters, and 
there is probably 
more than one spe¬ 
cies. The one espe¬ 
cially talked about 
is called the Michi¬ 
gan Grayling, Thy- 
mattus tricolor , but 
an English cor¬ 
respondent of the 
paper just alluded 
to, declares from 
the engraving that 
the fish is the same 
as the species found 
in European waters, 
Salmo Thymallus , or, as called by other authori¬ 
ties, Thymallus vulgaris. At all events, whether 
ours be the same or not, there is a strong prob¬ 
ability that a valuable fish will soon be intro¬ 
duced into our Eastern streams, and thus not on¬ 
ly add to our food supplies, but furnish another 
important fish to our anglers, for it is emphati¬ 
cally a game fish, taking the fly readily. The 
credit of first bringing the grayling into domes¬ 
tication, is due to Mr. Fred. Mather, of Honeoye 
Falls, N. Y., a gentleman who has heretofore 
given us interesting notes on fish culture. Up¬ 
on his arrival home in April, after his expedi¬ 
tion to Michigan, (of which an interesting ac¬ 
count was given in 
Forest and St7'eam,) 
he sent us word of 
his success; he 
started from Craw¬ 
ford, Mich., with 
180 fish, and reach¬ 
ed home with the 
loss of only 12. Mr. 
Mather sent one of 
his fish to Forest 
and Stream , from 
which Mr. Forbes 
made a drawing, 
which appeared in 
that journal, and 
also the one which 
is here presented. 
It will be seen that 
it is longer in pro¬ 
portion to its thick¬ 
ness, than the trout, 
and is thought by 
many to be equal¬ 
ly beautiful. Mr. 
Mather is very en¬ 
thusiastic over this 
matter, and we can 
not do better than give the description he gave in 
the above named journal, where he says, April 
23 : “ The grayling has all the fins of a trout; 
his pectorals are olive brown, with a bluish cast 
at the end (I am describing him in the water as 
I saw him in the ponds an hour ago), the ven- 
trals are large and beautifully striped with alter¬ 
nate streaks of brown and pink, the anal is plain 
brown, the caudal is very forked and plain, 
while the crowning glory is its immense dorsal; 
relationships we should expect to find the Gray¬ 
ling excellent upon the table. It is held in 
high esteem in Europe, and we have heard 
Europeans regret its absence in this country. 
It is very local in its habits in England, but 
thatpeculiaritymay 
be overcome by ar¬ 
tificial propagation. 
We look forward to 
the time, and that 
not a far distant 
one, when every 
farmer who has a 
permanent stream 
or pond upon his 
place, can be able 
to go to it with as 
much certainty of 
obtaining the de¬ 
sired quantity of 
fish, as he can now 
go to his barn-yard 
for poultry, and we 
regard every im¬ 
provement in fish 
culture as of im¬ 
portance. Especial¬ 
ly then is the intro¬ 
duction of a hither¬ 
to almost unknown 
fish, a matter of 
general interest, and 
we desire to give full credit to Mr. Mather for 
his active agency, and to our cotemporary for 
the enterprise it has manifested in the matter. 
this fin rises forward of the middle of its back, 
and in a fish a foot long, it will be nearly three 
inches in length by two high, having a grace¬ 
ful curved outline, and from 18 to 20 rays 
dotted with large red or bluish purple spots, 
which in life are brilliant, and are surrounded 
with an emerald green, which fades after death; 
it does not seem as if this green could be re¬ 
presented by the painter’s art; it is the change¬ 
able shade seen in the tail of the peacock.” 
The grayling spawns in the spring, and Mr. 
Mather writes us, that he thinks that it will 
probably replace the trout, in streams where 
there are numerous enemies that devour the 
IMPERIAL PEKIN DUCKS. 
trout spawn in ttie long period required to 
hatch it. The Grayling belongs to the Sal- 
monidee, or Salmon Family, of which the Sal¬ 
mon is the type, and our lake and brook trout 
still more familiar representatives, and from its 
Imperial Pekin Ducks. 
BT GEO. P. ANTHONY, "WESTERLY, R. L 
[In February last we gave the first account, 
(so far as we are aware), of these new ducks. 
Recently Mr. George P. Anthony, of Wester¬ 
ly, R. I., who has been successful in rais¬ 
ing them, sent us a photograph of a pair of 
his birds, from which the engraving is made; 
I with the accbmpanying notes. Ed.] 
The Imperial Pe¬ 
kin Duck was un¬ 
known in this 
country or Europe, 
previous to the 
spring of 1873; the 
following is a brief 
account of their 
importation. Mr. 
McGrath, of the 
firm of Fogg & Co., 
engaged in the Ja¬ 
pan and China 
trade, in one of his 
excursions inChina, 
first saw these 
ducks at the city 
of Pekin, and from 
their large size, 
thought them a 
small breed of 
geese. He succeed¬ 
ed in purchasing a 
number of eggs, 
and carried them 
to Shanghai, where, 
placing them under 
hens, he in due time 
obtained fifteen ducklings sufficiently mature to 
ship in charge of Mr. James E. Palmer, who was 
about returning to America. He offered Mr. P. 
one-half the birds that he should bring to port 
alive, and the latter, accepting the offer, took 
