In the Summer of 1918, a Chicago 
man on his first trip into Louisiana, 
wished to go squirrel-hunting, and as 
his host was very busy decided to go 
by himself. He spent half a day in the 
swamp and upon getting home had 
nothing to show for his hunt. His 
friend could not understand as the 
woods were full of squirrels, so asked 
him all about the hunt. The visitor 
flatly denied seeing any squirrels with 
the exception of one fox squirrel, which 
he failed to kill, and in the course of 
conversation asked his host what all the 
little animal were that looked like squir- 
rels, but were solid black. He said 
that he had been seeing them all day, 
but would not kill any as he did not 
know what they were. 
I can’t agree with the State Forest, 
Fish and Game Commission in saying 
that the black and greys belong to the 
same family, as I find very few greys 
where the black predominate. ; 
If the black is a freak why isn’t 
there as large a per cent freaks in Ten- 
nessee, Mississippi and Alabama where 
they are never heard of, and greys 
plentiful as there is in northeast Louisi- 
ana where the grey seems to be the 
freak? A. S. STANForD, 
Florence, Ala. 
Mr. Emmett’s Mystery Fish 
Identified 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
POSSIBLY I can help Mr. Emmett in 
his difficulty with common names, 
page 671. 
No matter how long one may study 
common names of fishes, there is al- 
ways something new coming up. Read- 
ing the heading and having just re- 
turned from the Gulf coast, I. at once 
looked for a picture of the shark which 
is sometimes called “Bonnethead” along 
the New England coast. This cousin 
of the Hammerhead is always called 
“Shovel Head” in the region about 
Point Isabel, Texas. 
In the Mississippi valley there are 
at least three fish which have the com- 
mon name of Shovel Head. The name 
is probably most commonly applied to 
the Sand Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus 
platorhynchus. This fish is also called 
White Sturgeon and Hackleback. It 
never reaches a very large size but is 
quite an important element of the fish- 
ery at MacGregor, Iowa, at certain sea- 
sons. Hackleback seems to be the most 
common name. 
The Shovel Head Catfish figured on 
page 546 is quite another creature. It 
is related to the common Bullhead or 
Hornpout of New York and New Eng- 
land, In the Mississippi River it is 
probably more often known as Yellow 
Cat, Flathead Cat, Morgan Cat or Gou- 
Page 33 
jon. “Cushaw” is also a rather com- 
mon name for this fish. 
It is found all through the Mississippi 
Valley and has worked its way into 
Lake Michigan and is quite common in 
some of the rivers flowing into the east- 
side of that lake. 
The third species of Shovel Head is 
surely the one Mr. Emmett saw. This 
is the Spoonbill Cat, also known as 
Spoony, Spoonbill, Spoonbill Sturgeon, 
Shovelnose Sturgeon, Paddlefish, ete. 
It is a relative of the sturgeons and 
bears the imposing name of Polyodon 
spathula. Polyodon means many teeth 
but the adult has none. Young speci- 
mens have many very small teeth in the 
mouth and lose them when they are 
about half grown. Chicago readers will 
be interested to visit Lincoln Park 
Aquarium and see one of these strange 
fish swimming around. This one has 
been in that tank for about a year and 
is the only one that has been kept in 
captivity for more than a few days. In 
1922 one was kept alive two days in a 
cement pool at Meredosia, Illinois, but 
died on the way to Chicago. 
~The Paddlefish has more than its gen- 
eral appearance to link it to the sharks 
and many scientists consider it by far 
the most sharklike of all the relatives 
of the sturgeons. Some even go so far 
as to consider it a sort of missing link 
between sharks and sturgeons. 
The greatest interest, of course cen- 
ters around the curious paddle-shaped 
organ on its snout. The function of 
this is not known. When first discov- 
ered it was supposed to be a weapon. 
This is so far from the truth that a 
slight blow on the paddle seems to dis- 
able the fish and cause it to turn belly 
up where it will die if not promptly 
righted, at least in the aquarium. It is 
now believed that it is an organ of 
touch and possibly that it may be used 

4s i wd 
Photo by Ernest Miller 
in shaking the water plants to stir up 
the small creatures on which the fish 
feeds.. This Shovel Head is one of the 
most mysterious of our fishes. We do 
not know where it breeds, or when. 
We do not know the use of the great 
“pill” it carries on its head. It seems 
to have some use or else it gets ter- 
ribly in the way for it is always much 
worn and scarred in an old fish. 
ALFRED C. WEED, 
Division of Fishes, Field Museum. 
A Most Unusual Double Catch 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
HUNTING with a falcon is an old 
time form of sport, but we have 
never known of but one instance where 
one fish has been sent out to catch an- 
other. 
The following is an accurate account 
of what happened at Brant Lake about 
forty miles north of Saratoga, N. Y. 
near Chestertown. 
Last August, Edward M. Wadsworth 
of Saratoga, N. Y. went fishing one day 
with his uncle Rufus G. Wadsworth of 
Binghamton, N. Y. in this lake. 
Uncle “Rufe” was doing the rowing 
and “Ed” was casting with a Dowajiac 
vampire and after several casts was 
successful in hooking a good one. He 
soon had him alongside the boat and 
it could be readily seen that he was well 
hooked. 
As they had gone out with the idea 
of remaining, but a short time no land- 
ing net had been taken along, so “Rufe” 
reached out and started to lift him in 
by the line. Imagine their chagrin 
when the line broke and Mr. Big Mouth 
swam away. 
While sitting in the boat disgusted 
with what had happened, they saw their 

A typical hunting cabin 
