38 
FOREST AND STREAM. 



Slatural History. 
THE SPRAT ANP THE WuiTeBarr.—Among the smaller 
kinds of the herring tribe found on the coast of Europe, 
there are two much valued by epicures, and known in the 
English markets as bait, as the sprat and the whitebait. The 
first of these bears among naturalists the specific name of 
clupea sprattus, given to it by Linnceus, from its English cog- 
nomen. It is found along the coasts of Northern Europe, 
later in the season than the common herring, and during 
the winter, keeping in shoals of such a size that a ton has 
been taken from one of them in a few casts of the net. 
They spawn in the early summer months, and pass the 
rest of the season in deep water, where they are pursued by 
larger fish. In November they approach the coast, and are 
caught in fine meshed drift nets, and large bag nets. The 
sprat is six inches long when full grown, and is much es- 
teemed by all classes. It is generally eaten fresh and may be 
preserved also. 
We have several small species of herring on our coast, 
whose specific distinctions have not yet been definitely set- 
tled, but fishermen need not wait until that has been done. 
Let them try to furnish our market with small herrings and 
call them sprats until more is known abeutthem At present 
all small herring are here called alewives, a word of Danish 
origin, but they are not systematically pursued, and no 
regular supply is furnished to the fish stands. 
Another small herring species is the whitebait, which fre- 
quents the English Channel and the Thames; and which is 
caught from April to September, though it is best in mid- 
summer. This little fish varies from two to six inches in 
length, but they average about three inches or a little more. 
They are captured in peculiar bag nets of very fine mesh, 
whose mouth is kept open by aframe, the boat being an- 
chored in a tide-way and the net hanging over the side, 
not four feet from the surface. The tail of the bag is hand- 
ed into the boat at intervals to be empted of its contents. 
We cannot here enlarge upon the delicacy of this little 
herring as an epicurean delight, but if any gourmand on this 
side of the Atlantic wishes to partake of it he can easily 
do so, for a nearly similar fish frequents our bays. Some 
years since Elwell, an English fisherman, who at that time 
lived at the tip of Red Hook point, brought me in April or 
May, a basket full of small fish and asked me to pronounce 
on the species. As before said our species of herring are not 
satisfactorily determined, but I told him that I believed his 
fish to be full grown herring of a kind closely resembling 
the London whitebait. ‘‘I thought so too, sir,” was his 
answer. Dekay and Storer both describe several small her- 
ring, and perhaps Dekay’s clupea minima comes nearest to 
the fish brought to me by Elwell, who procured his fish 
near the Staten Island shore of the narrows. 
If our fish dealers would stimulate the fishermen of our 
harbor to look out for this American whitebait, large quan- 
tities of them could no doubt be furnished. It appears that 
in Washington some small fish have for some time been sold 
as whitebait, but Professor Agassiz on examining them pro- 
nounced them to be a mixture of the fry of perch and other 
fishes. This may be true in the latitude of Washington, 
but that a small summer herring which is not the’ young of 
the shad, runs up the river here, is certain. Let our Fyke- 
men procure the proper nets and try to capture this mark- 
etable and delicate food. J. Carson Brevoorr. 
eeP arnt 
Facts have quite recently been brought to light in New 
Zealand, that may be of some little interest to those of our 
readers who are on the gw vive for all that is new and in- 
teresting to their beloved art. } 
Sometime ago large quantities of salmon-eggs from Eng- 
lish waters were shipped to New Zealand. They reached 
their destination in twelve days. It was at first deemed 
doubtful that they would survive this protracted voyage in 
good and‘healthy condition, although packed in ice. 
Four boxes of ova, packed alike, were received, and when 
these boxes were opened, the temperature was just 38° 
Fah. The report of Mr. Buckland who made the observa- 
tion says: ‘“‘In one of the boxes, the eggs nearly all con- 
tained living fish; in another they were ‘blind,’ or in 
other words, no embryo could be seen in them. In all the 
boxes there wasa certain percentage of eges which had 
turned quite white. Some of ‘these white eggs had a con- 
cave appearance, a spot, exactly the color of a strawberry, 
which covered a third part of the egg.” 
This experiment so carefully made, amply repaid for all 
the care bestowed upon it, and promises in a most satis- 
factory manner that salmon-eggs may be kept in a healthy 
condition this length of time, and perhaps longer. 
The fact of this experiment will go far to prove the 
value of making repeated and careful experiments in sal- 
mon culture. 
—_—$_—____. 
—Prof. Hayden, in charge of the Colorado Exploring 
Expedition, has already collected and forwarded to Wash- 
ington 227 different varieties of North American grasshop- 
pers. 
see See 
—Prof. Pulman, Salem, has been making investigations 
on acurious fish—the Liparis—which has for a long tiem 
time been a subject of special interest among zoologists. 
eg 
—Mr. Poppe of Sonoma, has introduced the German carp 
to California. The Napa Reporter reports thousands of little 
fish of this species in his pond. They are so tame that they 
suck milk from his milkman’s fingérs, 

—A fine specimen of the Hawkesbill turtle (caretta vm 
bricata,) the species which furnishes tortoise shell, has been 
presented to the Central Park Zoological Garden. 
—A man at a picnic in Massabesic, N. H., discovered a 
fish on its back in the water showing extraordinary activity. 
He caught it and found within another fish which had 
proved too large for its oral capacity. While he was ex- 
amining it, if was proposed to pull the smaller fish out of 
the other’s mouth. There then appeared within the form- 
er’s mouth a still smaller one. They were not dead when 
found, but would have died shortly. They were all perches 
and measured respectively thirteen inches. seven and a 
quarter, and three and a half in length. 
peak g AES) 
It is possible that the same story exists in the United 
States as in England as to Hedgehogs sucking cows? Mr, 
Frank Buckland wants more evidence about it. Here is a 
correspondence on the subject. 
‘“A dispute has arisen consequent on my defending the 
hedgehog from the charge of sucking from the teats of 
cows, an idea, I thought, long since exploded. It was 
finally arranged that the matter should be considered as 
finally settled by your decision. I may say that one indi- 
vidual, who backed his opinion with a wager, swears most 
positively that he has seen the cow rise from the ground 
and walk away two yards with the hedgehogs still cling- 
ing to the teat.—A. B y si 
[It is a curious thing how these old fancies crop up from 
time to time. If a hedgehog’s mouth be examined, it will 
e seen that it is much too small to take in a cow’s teat. 
Hedgehogs are very fond of milk, and I think it is very 
likely that they will lick up from the teat any milk, that 
is exuding—hence the origin of hedgehogs sucking cows, 
I should be glad to receive more evidence on this point. 
FRANK BUCKLAND.” 
Sir Ue & 
Loncevity or ANtMALS.—Highlanders believe that the 
deer is the longest lived of all creatures, save the eagle. 
They have an old Geelic proverb which is worth recording: 
“Thrice the age of a dog is that of a horse; 
Thrice the age of a horse is that of a man; 
Thrice the gge of a man is that of an eagle; 
Thrice the age ofgan eagle is that of an oak,” 
The exact longevity of animals, has never been properly 
determined, and is a subject worthy of special attention. 
We have seen an English horse in Canada thirty-three years 
old. We would like to have some authentic data on these 
subjects. 
PAG west 
LEGACTES IN AID OF ScrENCE.—The will of the late Elias 
Durand directs his son to ‘‘ present all my botanical works 
to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, to be 
placed in the botanical room for the use of workers and to 
save them the trouble of running to the library,” and also ‘‘to 
have my collection of botanical specimens securely packed 
and sent by express to the treasurer of the Jardin des 
Plantes, of Paris, France, to be added to a larger collection 
which I presented to that institution in 1868.” 
oes te 
—In Cairo, Egypt, is an artificial egg-hatching apparatus 
which has been in use for generations. The country peo- 
ple bring their eggs from long distances to be hatched out 
there, thus relieving the hens ofa great deal of wear and 
tear. 
Se ee 
Frank BuckLANb’s Muszeum.—There isa very curious es- 
tablishment at South Kensington, where Frank Buckland, the 
enthusiastic naturalist, has asmall water farm, which he has 
made most attractive to all who delight in the finny tribe 
and what else resides in the waters. The small bathing 
troughs first attract notice. : 
The troughs swarm with shoals of infant trout and salmon 
an inch or so long, and there is no reason, beyond the ills to 
which fish is naturally heir, why any one of these young- 
sters should not grow intosuch a giant as the seventy pound 
swimmer of the Tay—the biggest British salmon éver net- 
ted. 
The Museum contains casts of almost every fish that 
swims in British waters, fresh or salt; also several sorts of 
fish brought from other countries, and which Mr. Buck- 
land hopes to acclimatize in England waters. One glass 
tank is full of Norway trout, robust and beautifully marked, 
who made their journey across the German Ocean in the 
egg and packed in ice. Another tank is peopled with inch- 
long Thames trout. These swim sluggishly and are a more 
languid brood. Thames trout are rare, and the angler who 
has caught one is allowed to boast of it as long as he lives. 
A third tank abounds with ‘‘ Great Lake trout,” a swarm of 
strong swimmers, whose parents are passing a cooler sum- 
mer in the deeps of Neuchatel. These fish have thriven in 
the Obelisk Lake at Windsor, and have attained to the honor 
of the Queen’s table. Other tanks are inhabited by Cum- 
berland charr, salmon-trout hybrids from the Alsace breed- 
ing establishment, and in a cabinet in the centre of the room 
there are older fish—two year-old lake trout and salmon of 
ten inches andahalf apound. When food is thrown in they 
rsh forth and dart back to their shelter, and not a crumb 
is left. Their food is the very best ruampsteak and biscuit 
pounded together in a morter. Some of them are so tame 
that they will feed out of Mr. Buckland’s hand. ‘There is a 
case of Geneva trout in their third year, healthy, handsome 
speckled fellows, and one of the treasures of the Museum 
isa tiny brood: of salmon fontinal’s, or American - brook 
trout, sent over in ice in the egg by Seth Green, our famous 
pisciculturist. These eggs bring in England £100 a thou- 
sand. Mr. Buckland has three yearlings of this brook trout, 
eager, thorough-bred-looking fish, of beautiful markings, 
swooping down upon a crumb with inconceivable quickness. 
Still older and larger are some American brook trout in the 
larger wooden tank seen through the window on the west 
side of the museum-room, and also in another tank through 
the door on the east side. Here swim beauties of four years 
of age and five pounds or so in weight, who take their food 
with a splash and turn in the water that thrills the heart of 
an angler. ; : 
Among the casts on the wails visitors notice a salmon 
with the horn which grows from the under-jaw of the male 
at the spawning season, and which—witness the cast of a 
fish scored across his side with an ugly gash—is used chiefly 
for fighting. The room contains many piscatorial trophies. 


In the appendix to the twentieth report of the Science and 
Art Department just issued, will be found an interesting 
account by Dr. E. G. Dobson, staff surgeon, Calcutta, of the 
climbing perch of India, two specimens of which he for- 
warded to the gardens of the Royal Zoological Society of 
Jreland, being the first fish of the kind which ever reached 
Europealive. These fish, it seems, have large cavities in the 
skull on each side, above the branchial chambers, which 
contain the greatly expanded, foliated, pharyngeal bones. 
‘These bones serve as air receptacles, and from them air is 
supplied to the branchial fringes: and when all the contained 
air has been de-oxygenated, the whole is rejected through 
the gillopening. The manner in which this is done is as fol- 
lows: ‘The fish rises rapidly to the surface, and at the same 
instant the mouth is opened to take in fresh air the used up 
air is forced backwards through the gill openings ana 
rises in large bubbles to the surface. The fish descends im- 
mediately, one or two small bubbles usually passing upward, 
when it has reached the bottom, from the gill openings. 
The whole thing is done so rapidly that it is impossible to 
say whether the air taken in by the mouth displaces the 
used-up air in the supra-branchial cavities, orif the used-up 
air be first displaced, the vacuum being filled by fresh air 
entering through the mouth. Almost all the fresh water 
fish of India are air-breathers, though not provided with 
such curious expanded pharyngeal bones. The muddy 
rivers of India necessitates such a provision of nature, for 
pure water breathers could not pass through the gills water 
filed with gritty particles. The ‘‘ climbing perch” have 
obtained theirname from the circumstance of their having 
been frequently found on the trunks of palm-trees on the 
margin of rivers, which by means of their highly erectile 
scales, they wriggle on to as a temporary resting place 
where to escape for a time the tremendous impetus of a tor- 
rent swollen by tropical rains, 
eee eee 
INTERESTING GEORGIA ANTIQUITIES.—The Washington 
Chronicle gives publication to the subjoined letter: 
MIDDLEGEVILLE, Ga., August 8th, 1873. 
Joseph Henry, Esq., Secretary Smithsonian Institute, Washing- 
ton, D. C.. 
Dear Sir: By express I send you a precious box, con- 
taining one simple pitcher, Oconee; two thrice-perforated 
augur-bored stone implements, ancient stone-work, show- 
ing these ancients had the spiral augur bard enough to 
bore the hardest flint. 
The spiral thread is as perfect and regular as any screw. 
The augur, even used to bore wood, is one of the highest 
evidences of civilization. What shall we say of the augur 
to bore flint? Above all, Isend you my Oconee funeral 
urn, about which I before wrote to you. I held it back to 
gratify public curiosity here, and to get the missing frag- 
ments of the broken lid. When plowed up it still con- 
tained human relics, distinguishable pigeons’ feet and toes, 
which soon perished by exposure to air, showing air had 
never had any access before, and that it was hermetically 
sealed and both air and water tight. 
I call your special notice to the structure of the urn; 
First its graceful form, equal to any pottery; second, its 
composition, very thin, and yet consisting of three very 
distinct layers; inside, white, hard, thin enamel, perfectly 
air and water tight; a foundation for the inner and outer 
coatings consisting of black sandy matter, hard; the outer 
coat, graphic clay, kept in condition for writing on during 
the whole process of the writer’s elaborate work, until he 
could write the whole record. 
This written surface if translated, would be as large as 
the page of an ordinary newspaper. These three layers, 
trata and coatings, are united by the highest science. 
Che Ziennel. 
So many gentlemen of this city and Brooklyn are leav- 
ing with their dogs and guns for a shot at the Pinnated 
Grouse in the West, that it will not be out of place to say 
a word about the pointer and setter. 
The pointer, as arule, is not so much in fashion in 
America as the setter, by reason of his excessive delicate 
and nervous system, and his liability to take cold when 
hunting in wet land. The pointer originally is a cross of 
the Spanish dog with the gray-hound or fox-hound, by 
which the delicacy of the nerves of the nose, to some ex- 
tent, is diminished, and the body rendered more light and 
elegant. No dog has a higher sense of smell or shows 
greater intelligence and docility. The principal reason 
that he becomes rigid, or points, by the scent of game is 
from the extraordinary condition of his nervous system, 
acquired hundreds of years ago and handed down to him in a 
fair unbroken line by his ancestors. A thoroughly broken 
pair of highbred pointers are so obedient to the voice and 
gesture of their master and so well trained to act with each 
other, that a wave of the hand will separate them one 
going tothe right, and the other tothe left, so that they hunt 
the entire ground, crossing each other regularly in front 
of the sportsman as he walks forward. There is one mat- 
ter that is generally overlooked in ranging with the pointer. 
If in early life you have taught him to retrieve, and a case 
occurs in the field where he has to cross a stream, as the 
dog returns with the bird, never tell him “‘ down charge.” 
Hiscoat is so thin, and as we said before his organization 
so delicate, that he is sure to catch cold; therefore by all 
means allow him to run round a little, taking care not to 
disturb other game. The color size, &c., of the pointer 
have so often been described, we will leave that to the dis- 
cretion of the sportsman, and remark that they ought, if 
possible, to be light colored, so that the animal may be 
readily distinguished from the grass, herbage, &c., as no 
doubt the dark-colored dog is very attractive to the eye in th 
house, bnt cannot be seen so easily in the field, thereby 
causing much annoyance to the sportsman. 
The setter is invaluable for the sportsman who only cares 
to keep one bird-dog. There are several crosses, such as 
the Gordon, the red Irish, and the American, the latter 
haying resided long enough in the country to entitle him 
to that distinction. The Gordon is peculiarly citi 


