

Live oaks, festooned with Spanish moss 
grass. As we kept very quiet we were 
almost upon them before they discov- 
ered the boat, when they stood not 
on the order of going, but went at 
once, and in a hurry. The wake they 
left behind in the shallow water was 
equal to that of a large steam tug. 
For such ungainly-looking creatures, 
the body being almost as large as that 
of a horse, they were remarkably ac- 
itive in escaping, but made much fuss 
in doing so. I had on other occasions 
vencountered manatees in St. Lucie 
river, but never before in this portion 
of Florida. 
IN the vicinity of Biscayne Bay the 
northern angler will find ample 
sport in fishing 
for large-mouth 
black bass and 
blue gills in 
Miami _ river, 
and in Arch 
-ereek above and 
‘Snapper creel 
below. For salt 
water fishing 
he will have all 
he can attend 
to at almost 
any of the in- 
lets and passes 
between the 
keys from Cape 
Florida to Ba- 
hia Honda. 
Among the best 
are Bear Cut, 
Angel-fish creek and the channels be- 
tween Rodriguez, Tavenier, Long, In- 
dian, Mattecumbe, Vaccas and other 
keys, though the fishing may be more 
or less affected by the stone and con- 
crete arches now spanning them, that 
support the railroad to Key West. At 
some of these localities the angler may 
still revel in fine sport with groupers, 
snappers, cavalli and many others, or 
troll in the channels for kingfish, cero 
or amberjacks, and in addition will 
find the acme and fulfillment of his 
desire in matching his skill with those 
finny acrobats, the bonefish and ten- 
pounder which feed on grassy flats and 
sandy shoals. 
HE angler will find much confu- 
sion existing, not only among tour- 
ists, but among the residents and 
guides as well, concerning the iden- 
tification and nomenclature of these 
gladiators in silver armor. They were 
first described from the Bahamas 
many years ago as bonefish (Albula 
vulpes), and ten-pounder (Elops sau- 
rus). Along the South Atlantic coast, 
where the bonefish was not uncom- 
mon fifty years ago, it was locally 
known as “ladyfish,” and the name 
was adopted by Dr. G. Brown Goode 
in his admirable work, “American 
Fishes,” 1888, for Albula vulpes, the 
bonefish. This added very much to the 
uncertainty already existing in regard 
to the vernacular names of the fishes 
under consideration. 
I have had occasion, heretofore, to 
point out the differential features of 
these fishes, and it may not be amiss 
to do so in this connection, inasmuch 
as I have recently noticed in the 
sportsmen’s magazines articles on fish- 
ing for “bonefish,” wherein the repro- 
duction of photographs illustrating 
the articles were without doubt ten- 
pounders. 
When the two fishes are 

Me oie ae. a 1 Ai) 
placed side by side they appear as two 
silvery, spindle-shaped fishes that re- 
semble each other in size, contour and 
general appearance, but there the like- 
ness ends. An examination of the 
mouths will at once determine which 
is which. For instance, the bonefish 
has an overhanging or piglike snout, 
the mouth being somewhat underneath, 
while the ten-pounder has a terminal 
mouth, that is, with the upper anil 
lower lips meeting in front, like most 
fishes. Moreover, the scales of the 
bonefish are nearly twice as large as 
those of the ten-pounder; otherwise 
they resemble each other in appear- 
ance and disposition of fins. When 
hooked their method of fighting, fierce 
resistance and continual leaping above 
the surface are much the same, and 
is an additional factor of confusion 
in the common names. 
The ten-pounder is closely allied to 
the tarpon, and it is only a matter of 
pounds and inches between them. As 
to gameness it is but a question of 
comparison in degree and not in kind. 
Both belong to the same family if not 
to the same genus; both having a flat 
bone or gular plate in the floor of the 
mouth. 
ERHAPS the most important 
variation to the angler is in the 
formation of their mouths. The mouth 
of the tarpon opens vertically, and 
that of the ten-pounder straight or 
horizontally. The shape or gape of 
the jaws of a fish indicates the man- 
ner of taking its food. The ten- 
pounder seizes its prey in any direc- 
tion—from above, below, sidewise or 
ahead. The tarpon, with jaws open- 
ing vertically, takes its prey only from 
above; and this fact may explain why 
the mullet bait often lies on the bot- 
tom, unnoticed, for hours at a time, 
to the chagrin of the angler. The 
most successful 
methods are by 
trolling, or by 
keeping the 
bait in motion 
in mid-water; 
by these meth- 
ods, however, 
the. fish. . ig 
hooked in the 
mouth, and 
nine times out 
of ten the hook 
will be shaken 
out, but even 
so, it is more 
s p ortsmanlike 
to land but one 
fish in ten than 
a dozen hooked 

(Continued on 
ridian glades page 187) 
133 
Caesar’s creek, The delicate tracery of silhouetted leaves deep in Flo 
