33 3 
Wisconsin state agricultural society. 
there is on an average, one thousand pounds of whitefish and 
trout each, caught and sold daily, amounting to not less than six¬ 
teen thousand dollars. 
The Pickerel Family. —We have three or four closely allied 
species of the genus Fsox, armed with prodigious jaws, filled 
with cruel teeth, and they lie motionless, ready to dart, swift as an 
arrow on their prey. They are the sharks of the fresh water. 
The pickerel are so rapacious that they spare not their own 
species. Sometimes they attempt to swallow a fish nearly as large 
as themselves, and perish in consequence. Their flesh is moder¬ 
ately good, and, as they are game to the backbone, it might be 
desirable to propagate them to a moderate extent, under peculiar 
circumstances. 
Siluridoe. —The catfish have soft fins, protected by sharp spines, 
and curious fleshy barbies floating from their lips, without scales, 
covered only with a slimy coat of mucus. The genus Pimbdus 
are scavengers among fishes, as vultures are among birds. They 
are filthy in habit and food. There is one interesting habit of the 
catfish—the vigilance and watchful, motherly care taken by the 
male over the young. He defends them with great spirit, and 
herds them together when they straggle. Even the mother is 
driven far off, for he knows full well that she would not scruple 
to make a full meal of her little black tadpole-like progeny. 
There are four species known to inhabit this state, one peculiar to 
the great lakes, and two found in the numerous affluents of the Mis¬ 
sissippi. One of these, the great yellow catfish, sometimes weighs 
over one hundred pounds. I saw one caught in the Missouri, 
which weighed one hundred and fifteen pounds. When in good 
condition, stuffed and well baked, they are a fair table fish. The 
small bullhead is universally distributed, and nearly worthless. 
Sturnedae —The sturgeons are a large sluggish fish, covered with 
plates instead of scales. There are at least three species of the ge¬ 
nus acipeser found in the waters of Wisconsin. Being so large 
and without bones,— cartilaginous ,—they afford a sufficintly cheap 
article of food; unfortunately, however, the quality is decidedly 
bad. Sturgeons deposit the most enormous quantity of eggs; the 
roe not unfreauently weighs one-fourth as much as the entire 
