




































LY JOURNAL, 
DEVOTED TO FIELD AND AQUATIC Sports, PRACTICAL NATURAL Hisrory, 
‘Fish CULTURE, THE PROTECTION OF GAME, PRESRVATION OF ForRgEstTs, 
AND THE INCULCATION INMEN AND WOMEN OF A HEALTHY INTERFST 
IN OU7-590R RECREATION AND StuDyY: 
PUBLISHED BY 
forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
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NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DEC. 11, 1873. 



To Correspondents. 
—_»—_—_—_ 
All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 
correspondence, must be addressed to THe ForEsT AND STREAM PUB- 
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pared with \iareful reference to their perusal and instruction. 
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notes of their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of this paper 
become a medium of useful and rgliable information between gentle- 
men sportsmen from one end of the country to the other; and they will 
find our columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements. 
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CHARLES HALLOCK, 
Managing Editor. 

THE IRISH RIFLE CHALLENGE. 
<a 
HE annual meeting of the Amateur Rifle Club was 
held on Friday last, December 5th, at the 7th Regi- 
ment Armory. The following officers were elected tor the 
coming year:—President, Captain G. W. Wingate; Vice- 
President, Colonel H. A. Gildersleeve; and Secretary and 
Treasurer, F. P. Fairbanks, Esq. The Executive Commit- 
tee are as follows:—Messrs. H. Fulton, J. T. B. Collins, A. 
Alford, L. C. Bruce, and G.§S. Schermerhorn. An im- 
portant subject taken up by the A. R. C., was that of the 
IRISH CHALLENGE. 
On motion of Mr. J. P. M. Richards, the following reso- 
lution was offered :— : 
‘‘That the Executive Committee of this Club be hereby 
requested to correspond with Mr. Leech, and if satisfactory 
terms can be arranged to accept the challenge in the name 
of the Amateur Rifle Club of the city of New York, and 
of the Riflemen of America. And it is hereby arranged 
that an opportunity be offered to the Riflemen of the United 
States at the earliest possible date to compete with our own 
practice squad for places in the team, but without expense 
to the Club,” which resolution was passed unanimously. 
The meeting was attended by the most prominent shots of 
the Amateur Rifle Club and National Rifle Association, 
who were strongly in favor of accepting the challenge of 
the Irish team. It will be seen that the Club do not propose 
to accept the challenge so much for themselves as on behalf 
of the American Riflemen. It is hoped that those who con- 
sider themselves qualified to compete in such a contest, 
will, in case a definite arrangement is made, place them- 
selves in communication with the officers of the Club. 
Those intending to do so, however, must bear in mind that 
they will be restricted to the use of arifle weighing less than 
10lbs. with a trigger pull of 3 Ibs. at least, and without tele- 
s the Meee Club is an Association of gentlemen. 
The total scores and averages made by the A. R. C., this 
season, will be found in another column. 
— 
—At arecent meeting of the Belgian Academy of Sciences 
rather a curious discussion took place. M. E. Van Beneden, 
the well known Zoological Professor of Lourain, read a 
paper on Brazil and the La Plata. Speaking of the diffi- 
culty of obtaining a dolphin, on account of the superstition 
of the Brazilian fishermen, the Professor referring to the 
ancient European belief that dolphins were in the habit of 
bringing dead bodies on shore, said ‘‘the fable of Jonah is 
an embodiment of this belief.” As all questions referring 
to religious subjects are not allowed to enter into these 
scientific discussions, M. Van Beneden was quickly called 
to order and his expression particularly in regard to Jonah’s 
dolphin, was very properly withdrawn. 



‘ 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

THE MICHIGAN GRAYLING. 
——_4—____. 
| AST winter, about twelve months ago, the editor of 
this paper interested himself greatly in aiding to iden 
tify this valuable game-fish, and in procuring specimens for 
scientific examination by Professors Agassiz, Baird, and 
Cope, at their respective museums at Cambridge, Washing- 
ton, and Philadelphia. By the persistent efforts of Mr. 
Fitzhugh, of Bay City, Michigan, male and female speci- 
mens were procured by Indians who traveled 150 miles in 
dead of winter to spear them through the ice, and were 
forwarded to us at our expense, and by us distributed. 
Some mention was made of the fact at the time, and an 
opinion and classification was printed in the New York 
Times, over Prof. Agassiz’s signature. However, experts 
thad examined the subject but little, and to this day nothing 
more definite has been printed. Our readers will theretore 
be able to estimate our satisfaction in being able to lay be- 
fore them the exhaustive paper herewith appended from 
Prof. James W. Milner, assistant United States Fish Com- 
missioner, and dated— 
SMITHSONIAN INstITUTION, December 4, 1873. 
In the centre of the lower peninsula of Michigan, is a 
wide, elevated plateau, a sand region, with a soil contain- 
ing a very small per cent. of organic matter; and covered 
with a forest of pines, generally the Norway pine, pinus 
resinosa, Linn, growing in grand dimensions, thelong, limb- 
less shafts making wide boards, free from knots, yet but 
little utilized, while immense forests of the favorite lum- 
ber material, the white pine (Pinus strobus) are yet uncut. 
From this plateau arise several large streams and rivers, 
fiowing each way, into Lakes Huron and Michigan. Among 
these, are three rivers of note, the Muskegon, the Manistee, 
emptying into Lake Michigan, and the Ausable, emptying 
into Lake Huron. Among the minor streams are the Che- 
boygan, Thunder Bay, and Rifle, tributary to Lake Huron, 
and the Jordan, emptying through Pine Lake into the 
Traverse Bays of Lake Michigan. A few branches and 
streams, spring fed, are formed, in which the water has a 
uniform degree of coldness throughout the summer, seldom 
rising above 52%. The rivers Rifle, Ausable, Jordan, Her- 
sey, branch of the Muskegon, and the headwaters of the 
Manistee, all have this character, and in all of these, and 
only in this limited locality, short of the Yellowstone re- 
gion, is found the already famous Michigan Grayling, Thy- 
mallus tricolor, Cope. 
In September last, provided with boats and fishing 
tackle, an excursion was made by a party of four, includ- 
ing guides, to the headwaters of the Ausable for the gray- 
ling. D. H. Fitzhugh, of Bay City, Michigan, who has 
already made known more facts in reference to the habits 
of this species than any one else, was of the party. 
Leaving Bay City we traveled northward by the new ex- 
tension of the Jackson, Lansing, and Saginaw Railroad to 
the last but one stopping places short of “‘the end of the 
iron.” 
In these days of extensive pioneering and wholesale ex- 
ploration, the man is favored who finds himself in the 
midst of a really untrodden wild. The character of the 
land and the timber in this locality have little attractions 
for the seeker after productive soil or investment, and the 
sportsman and the naturalist find here a patch of nature 
left in almost primeval purity. As we embarked in our 
light boats, in the early morning, and our bows broke the 
trailing mist that covered the river, it was as if brushing 
the fresh bloom from newly plucked fruit, so untouched 
by the hand of man did everything seem. 
Quietly the guides poled the boats down the rapid cur- 
rent, while we adjusted rods, lines, and leaders, using, in 
accordance with Mr. Fitzhugh’s former experiences, a lead 
colored, a brown and a black hackle. 
Several favorable spots were tried before a fish was 
struck; he was small and played weakly, but on landing 
him, he proveds to be a genuine specimen of the desired 
fish, having, as afterwards proved to be the case, slightly 
less brilliancy of color, and more of the black salmon spots, 
than the mature specimens. Before we reached the site 
chosen for our camp, seven of the graceful creatures were 
swimming in the well of one boat, and four in the other. 
They had given evidence of their game qualities to some 
extent, but fought with less vigor in the cold water of the 
early morning than they did later in the day. 
The camp stores were put on shore, and we began the 
work of the day in earnest. Dropping the flies at just the 
spots where trout would be sought for, finds the grayling 
similarly located. As Sir Humphrey Davy says of the 
English species, (Salmonia, 4th ed., 1851, p. 180,) ‘‘He rises 
rapidly from the bottom or middle of the water, darting 
upwards, and having seized his fly, returns to his station.” 
Hooking a large one, we had good evidences of his plucky 
qualities; the pliant rod bent as he struggled against the 
line, curling his body around columns of water that failed 
tosustain his grasp, and setting his great dorsal fin like an 
oar backing water, while we cautiously worked him in, 
his tender mouth requiring rather more careful handling 
than would be necessary for a trout; making aspurt up 
stream, he requires a yielding line, but after a time he sub- 
mits to be brought in, rallying fora dart under the boat, 
or beneath a log, as an attempt is made to place the landing 
net under him. Finally brought on board, exhausted, he is 
easily removed from the hook and slipped th rough the hole 
in the cover of the well. 
Nine ‘were taken from a deep hole under projecting wil- 
low bushes; several times two were taken at once, and Mr. 
Fitzhugh, by skillful management landed three from one 
fortunate cast. They are free, strong biters, and cannot be 
considered very shy, as they will rise repeatedly to a fly if 
Ms failure is made in hooking them. Still an experience on 
the Jordan in 1871 proved that it sometimes required all 
the ingenuity of an experienced fly fisherman to induce an 
occasional rise, when grayling were seen to be plentiful in 
the river, and there is a tradition in the city of Bay City 
that three unfortunate fishers came into town on one occa- 
sion, asseverating that the claim that grayling existed in 
the Ausable had been proven a fraud. 
The first day’s efforts resulted in seventy-two of the 
fishes, and grayling was served up at night for supper by 
the camp-fire, and proved a fair rival for their congener, 
even upon the table. 
The second day it was agreed that Mr. Fitzhugh should 
explore the stream for five miles down the river, while our 
boat worked up and down each way from camp, over about 
three or four miles. The day’s fishing added to the score, 
until all told there were one hundred and forty-three speci- 
mens, from five inches in length to those weighing one and 
one half pounds. The lower part of Mr. Fitzhugh’s explo- 
ration of the river proving barren, there was asmaller num- 
ber to cary away than might have been obtained, as he 
was the most suscessful, being much more experienced as a 
fly fisherman. 
There is no species sought for by anglers that surpasses the 
grayling in beauty. They are more elegantly formed and 
more graceful than the trout, and their great dorsal fin isa su 
perb mark of beauty. When the well-lids were litted, and the 
sun’s rays admitted, lighting up the delicate olive-brown 
tints of the back and sides, the bluish-white of the abda- 
men, and the mingling of tints of rose, pale blue, and pur- 
plish-pink on the fins, it displayed a combination of living 
colors that is equalled by no fish outside of the tropics. 
The history of the discovery of the species is as follows: 
It has been known for years to the people in adjacent coun- 
ties, and among the Jumbermen, and generally called trout, 
distinguishing it from the ordinary species by applying the 
local name of the stream, as the ‘‘Hersey trout,” or the 
“Jordan,” or ‘‘Ausable” trout. : 
In the winter of 1864and 1865, Prof. Edward D. ‘Cope, of 
the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, worked up a large col- 
lection of flshes, sent by Mr. M. Miles, of Lansing, belonging 
to educational institutions of the State of Michigan. Among 
these he found this species, readily detecting its relation 
to the genus Tymallus, and giving it the name of tricolor. 
In the winter of 1872, Mr. D. Fitzhugh procured specimens 
and forwarded them to Professor Baird of the Smithsonian 
Institution, and to Professor Agassiz, as well as to promi- 
nent authorities of the hook and line profession. These 
were the first specimens obtained by the museums, and were 
regarded with a great deal of interest. Two obtained for 
the U. S. Commission of Fisheries in 1871, from the Jor- 
dan river were lost in the great fire at Chicago. Mr. Fitz- 
hugh subsequently went before the legislature of his State 
and induced the passage of a law protecting the grayling 
from a too rapid destruction. He was also the first to com- 
municate with reference to their habits and qualities as a 
game fish. 
This grayling, Professor Cope has decided to be distinct 
from Sir John Richardson’s species, Thymailus signifer, of 
the far north, the specific name of which, (signifer, ‘‘ the 
standard bearer”), refers to its large, brightly colored 
dorsal fin. It is the only other species known on this con- 
tinent. Richardson givesits range, as north of latitude 62°, 
between the Welcome River and the Mackenzie, flowing 
into the Arctic Sea. In reference to its habits, he says it is 
‘‘found only in clear waters, in the most rapid parts of the 
mountain streams.” Describing its capture with the fly, he 
says:—‘‘ The sport was excellent, for this grayling gener- 
ally springs entirely out of the water when first struck with 
the hook, and tugs strongly at the line, requiring as much 
dexterity to land it safely as would secure a trout of six 
times the size.” The species has been found in the Yukon 
River, of Alaska, so that it will be seen to be one of our 
possessions. 
A specimen of the grayling, forwarded to Cuvier about 
1847 or 1848, purported to have come from Lake Ontario, 
and was named by him Thymallus ontaricanis, but the lo- 
cality must have been a mistake. 
The foreign species of the genus are also limited. The 
Thymallus vulgaris, Nilsson, is the one found in England 
and northern Europe, and according to Dr. Giinther, an 
authority on the foreign salmonide, the same species in- 
habits central Europe. Professor Agassiz, supported by 
one or two prominent French and German icthyologists, 
does not believe the two species to be identical, and has 
named the one last referred to, Thymallus vexillifer. We 
learn from Walton * in his very interesting reference to the 
grayling, of the local habits of the English species, ard 
this is corroborated in more detail by Ephemera, + (E. Fitz- 
gibbon), and Sir Humphrey Davy. + 
Our species, 7. tricolor, Cope, evidently has the same 
habit, as this region of Michigan is its only locality, east of 
the Mississippi. 
In Professor F. V. Hayden’s expedition to Montana in 
1871, specimens of the same species were found in Yellow 
Creek, and the Gallatin Fork of the Missouri. 
The other foreign species are the Thymallus gymnogaster , 
Cuv. & Val., of the Newa, at St. Petersburg, Russia; the 
T. Aeliant, Cuy. & Val., from Lago Maggiore of Italy and 
Switzerland; and the 7. Pallasii, Cuv. & Val., found by the 
old naturalist, Pallas, in the Kolyma and Sob Rivers, 
emptying into the Arctic Ocean in western Siberia. : 
The protection and increase of the Michigan species is a 
matter of interest to every one. It will probably be found 


* + The Complete Angler. Ephemera’s ed., p101, p104, 
} Salmonia, p189. - 

