The dead fish

212 FOREST AND STREAM. [April

IS,

perch.

Ye

gods!

what

a gloriousmeal! Ended.

Our

boat isquicklyloaded. O'Nealtakes thebow,pole in hand,at the endof which,

singing

to three feet of line, is the glittering bait concealingits barbed hook's,with

which

he hopestocatchthe

unwary

bass as we, glidedown,the swiftly flowing watersoftheriver. Myselfseatedin(liestern,gun inhand, readytosendthedeath-dealingshot into any'kind of;game^thatdares to

come

under outvision.

Our

sable sailor seizes the oars,

aud

with one stroke of his

brawny arms

sendstheboat

onward

tothe seaoverthewatersofthe dark flowingriver.

The

scene,

how

beautiful!

The

sunisjust rising

from

his

home

iutheeast. His uncloudedrays are.stealing assoftly through the darkfoliage oftheforest trees that,lineeach

bank

of the river as the footsteps ofTime. Inthetall oaks myriads of noisy crows are holding high carnival.

The

nimblesquirrellaughs gailyat usfromhis hiding placein the

merry

green wood.

Thousands

of songsters of varied

plumage

herald thenew-born day withtheir'sweetest notes, while high over headthe gracefulosprcy

swims

theambient airon easy wing, and screams indignantlyat,us as

we

glide oyer the

bosom

of the waters, whose,finnytribes he

deems

hisown. Graceful magnolias, baytrees,cabbage-palmettos, withtheirlong,waving, fan-like leaves; tallpines clustered around the long-limbedlive oaks, whose wide, spreading bandiesstoopandsoftly kiss the

murmuring

waters sweep"

ing by.

But

O'Nealhasno eyeforIhe beauties of nature just now-. His gazeisfirmly fixed on the flittering bauble glidingthroughthe swift-waters.

We

round a

bend

of the riyer. Just as

we

sweep

by comes

witharushafour

pound

bass,

aud

_plungesatthe tempting bait, is impaled

on

the cruel steel, and issoon flounderingin thebottom of the boat, while O'Neal's eyes

beam

withdelightoverhis capture. Againthe alluring bait istrollingthroughthe waters;

we

noiselessly glideby anold treetop. O'Neal unguardedlylooksatanoldsaurian

swim-

ingcarelesslyaheadofus,

when

there

came

a,strike

— ^and

such astrike! It sounded like an exploding bombshell.

The

monster missesthehooks,

and

the baitgoes highinthe, air,

accompanied

by O'Nealsheels.

The

boatbottomcatches him.

Our

shoutsoflaughtergreettheveteranasheregains his equilibrium.

"Confound

you!

you

couldn't, have done better."he exclaimed.

He

triesagain,and

when we

reach St.Marks, ourdestination, six bass,weighing

from

four to six

pounds

attesthis success.

Here we

give

them

to our friends, hoistsail

and

speed

away

tothehauntsof the cun- ning sheepshead,

wary

channel-bassand voracioussea trout.

Arrived, getourbait,select a position

and

gotobusiness.

At

our firstcasteachget abite,

hang

ourfish,andaftera sharp_ struggleland

two

finechannel-bass.

Then we

takein fourfinesheepshead andthree trout;

when from some

cause the finny fellowsfailtoobserve

we

are fishingforthem,

and

notanibble

awarded

ourexertions.

We

quit in disgust,and seekthebanksandthe friendly shelter of a lone tree ofthe marsh.

Under

it

we

restedwhileoursablefriend prepared

lisasavory mealthat the festivegods

would

nothave dis- dained.

Then homeward bound

with spoon bait your writer

managed

the successful capture of tenfine bass.

Reach home

in time to have a good supper out of

two

ofthem.

Smoked

thepipeof peace,

and

thensleptthe quiet sleep ofthetruthful,righteous fisherman. O.G.

Gubley.

THE AFRICAN POMPANO.

YOUR ^New

^Orleanscorrespondentwrites of

pompano

in that city of theweightof thirty-five

aud

twenty-eight pounds,

which

sizesare sounusual,even unprecedented, 1or thatfish,thatone

may

perhaps be permitted to doubt the species

—

especiallyas'thespecimensdo not appear to

have

been submittedto*scientificexamination.

The

cavalli, or orevalle, Caranx defensor, Cuv.

DeKay

—

arealliedspecies,sonearly resemblesthe

pompano,

TracJiy- notvs ravolin11,1,Bothrolrm-v.-ipampan-u-i,Cuv.,as tobeeasily mistakenforit

by

acasual observer. In theloose

and

con- fused

way

of

naming

different fishes in different places, the

names pompano and

cavalliareoften confounded, and

men

talk of killing

pompano

intheIndianRiverwithafly,

when what

they have caught

were

cavalli.

The

cavallihas(hesnout

more

pointed;itscolor is olive green

and

silveryabove; golden yellow with blue

and

purple below. Itgoes'inschoolsnear thesurface,takes any bait eagerly,isvery rapaciousinitshabits,in thisresemblingthe bluefish;weight

from two

totwenty pounds; a very

game

fish,butindifferentonthe table,the flesh beingoily,

and

streakedwith black and whitelikethat of themackerel.

The pompano

has a truncated snout; color

when

first taken,blue

and

silver;afterwardpaleblueabove

and

golden yellow beneath;firstdorsal with six spines; seconddorsal soft-rayed.

Both

specieshave smallscalesand deeply-forked tails,andsimilar brilliancyof color.

The pompano

seldom exceeds three or four

pounds

in weight;isa

bottom

fish

which

feeds chiefly on mollusks,

and

veryrarely takesa,bait;itisusuallytaken

on

theocean beach withthe castnet.

Itsgreat distinctionisitsvalue on the table, surpassing that ofallother species inSouthern waters;a combination of richnessanddelicacydifficult todescribebut easy to re-

member. No

one

who

has ever

compared

(he above

two

speciesalive,or eaten of

them when

cooked, can ever con-

found

them.

The

supremelydelicious

pompano

should not be degraded

by

^havingthe rank-fleshed cavalli called

by

the

same

name.

The name

of the inferiorfish, '•'cavalli.^"'or horse,

was

given toit b.y the Spaniards ^inreference to the swiftness

and

agilityofthisoceanrover. Callthe

new

giantAfricanca- valli 'ifyouwill,but,confine the

name pompano

to the un- approachablesovereign of theseas.

Perhaps theattempt to induce people to call things

by

their right

names

is useless, and the

names

trout, bass

and chub

will continue to be used in different places fol the

same

fish. In yourlastnumber, a writerdis- courses about catchingfifteenmackerel, meaning,doubtless, bluefish,

which

againin

Rhode

^{Islandiscalledhorse}

mack-

erel, s,C. 0.

Mabibtta, Ga.

A

^{few years ago the}U.S,Fish

Commission

received a singlespecimen ofa fourteen

pound pompano from

Mr.

Blackford,ofFullon market, it

was

foundto be anAfri-

can

species, Twr/iyiii/f.us goreepsis,

common

about the

Canary

islands.

The

next yearseveralwere caught and they are

now

notrare in the market of

New

York.

We

think thefishhas

come

in

some

numbers, perhapsto stay,and, in the article alludedto,suggested thatit be distinguished as the"African

pompano." We

do not doubt but the

New

Orleans Specimens were^the

same

fish,

which

is

new

to our coastnow,a,sthe bluefish

was

fiftyyears ago. butit, is not the. cavalli.

TENNESSEE ANGLING NOTES.

EVERYBODY

^has gone wild onthe subject of angling.

Fish are reported as

more

abundant thanever

known

before, and as businessis rather dull, the banks of the streamsincloseproximitytoNashville, arelinedwith hun- dredsofpersons ofall colors,ages,and both seves. Col.

Altersand Ed.

Horn went

out this

morning

towettheir lines inMill Creek,andasbotharenoted manipulatorsof therod and reel,itwillnotsurprise

me

to see

them

returnwitha

handsome

creel.

Iregret to say, that

among

ourwell-to-dopeoplethereisa decided spiritof lawlessness existing,

and many

of

them

not aparticle, too "square" toindulge in sinning

where

they can do it on the sly. This isshameful,

inasmuch

as ourprotectivelawsfirethe

most

lenient passedinanyState, andtheincrease offish inour

many

beautiful streamsde- pendsentirely

upon

a,cessation ofwholesaleslaughter for a

few

years.

By

thetime,the next General Assembly meets here,it isto be hopedthat

amendments

willbeofferedand passedto thepresentbill,andthosepersonsviolating thelaw beseverelypunished.

With

our streamswellstockedwith

game

fish,andthe forests-with turkeys, deer,and quail, a great

many

Northern

and

Eastern sportsmen

would

beiu- ducedtopass a portion oftheseason,and enjoy ourfine cli- mate,

and

perhaps

become

investors inproperty

down

here.

The Forest and Stream,

everreadytoaidinthecauseof

game and

fishprotection,

must come

toourassistance.

The

influence ofsuchajournal,

and

the able

manner

With

which

itdeals ofsuchsubjectscanhave butamostsalutaryeffect.

Therearepersons

who

arguethatafisherman'sisalazylife,

buttheseWould-be murderersoffish finditto be,theveryre- verse,hence theywishtosetnets,traps,

and

other

com

rivan- ees,by whichtocatchunsuspectingcreatures that they are too indolent tocaptureⁱⁿa legitimateway." Sincethe introduc- tion of the systemofextra,fast trains,

we

aregetting

many

varieties offishhitherto

unknown

here.

Andy Meaders

dis- played hard and soft-shell crabson hisstall to-day; also shrimp

and

crayfish;fresh herringare broughttous

from

theChesapeake,and even the noble salmon reachesthis far.

Nashville, April1,1882. J. D.H.

TROUTING ON LONG ISLAND.

BOYS,

^{let us change the opening}

^day

^{fortrout! All}

Fools'

day

isnot^a,

good

onefor trout

and

trapperscom- bined. Lastyear ourlines

were

frozen aud this year the

wind

blew ourflies off. I

went

a fishing

on

the

two

first daysofApril

and

only

had two

hoursof

good

fishing.

We

left fliesandleaders, too,on

many

abush,

and much

of

my

good

temper with them. Usually,itsoothesour tempersto get agood,bright,and enjoyableday on a stream

which we know

ofouthesouthsideof

Long

Island,

which

is without anoral

dam. But we

cannotkeep our tempers

down

if

we

have suchApril openings.

Think

ofit! In

two

hours

we

killedsix fish, weighing sevenandone-quarterpounds,

and

on the remainder ofthe

two

days couldnotdropa flyor land a half-pounder.

A

saintcould not stand suchtreatment.

The

weather

was

sour;

the beauties sulked;ourfavoriteflies

would

nottempt them.

The

favoriteflyusedin

some

localities

we know

of,

was

a bigfat

worm,

and eventhe

worms were

so cold

and

wiggle- lessthattheyhadtobe

warmed

inthe

mouth

toget sensi- bilityenoug'hin

them

tosquirmouthehook.

The. best cafehes^:,t,hat,Ihearof are: ImbrieandClerk,fish- ingatGreen'sCreek, Sayville, thirty-four;eighteen

weighed

ten

and

one-half pounds.

Wilbur and Chapman,

fishing the

same

stream, eighteen; largestone

and

three-quarters; six

weighed

sevenandone-quarterpounds.

John

Ripper,near Glen Cove,

two

andone-quarterpounds. Mr.

W.

Holberton

had

excellentsuccess

somewhere

on the south side.

Very

fine fishhave been takenattheponds of

August

Belmont.

At

Islip,Mr.P.

Remsen

took twenty-two

pounds

of trout in

two

hours,

and

apart}'offourarereported as having cap- turedsixty-three

pounds

nearFreeport.

Itissaid thatPresidentArthur,

who

isan adeptat,casting thefly,and

who

hasfishedfor adozen yearsor more, in the brooksofSouth Oyster Bay,

on Long

Island, willbethe guestof

William

Flovd Jones duringhisvisitthisseason.

X.

SOUTHERN FISHES IN 1775.

OUR

^valued correspondent, "S. C.

G,"

wrote usonthis fish,aud

we

^printedittrnpo/i,after the

manner

of Al.

Fresco's spelling. Mr. 0. objectedtothis,and

we

wrote

him

thatit

was

anoversight inproof-reading, asit,isspelled indifferentways.

We

incidentally statedthat

we

always

had

spelled it tanmui,,having only the authorityofGill'sCata- logueof theFishesofthe east coast of

North America

for suchspelling.

Our

correspondent again writes:

As

to

Tarpnm,

1have writtenthe

word

with ano,follow- ingoneoftheearliestwritersontheFishesof Florida,Capt.

Bernard

Romans,

of the British

Army, whose

^"'Concise Nat- ural HistoryofFastand

West

Florida.,''

was

published in

New

York,'1775.

A

veryable

and

originalwriter

was

this captain of engineers,and had

many

ideasfarinadvance of his time.

He

^writes:

"The whole

of the -westroast of EastFlorida, iscovered withfishermen's hutsandflakes;

these are built bytheSpanish fishermen

from

theHavana,

who come

annually on thiscoast to the

number

of thirty sail,and oneor

two

visit Rio d'Aisor Indian River,

and

otherplaces onthe eastcoast.

The

principalfishhere, of

which

the Spaniards

make up

theircargo,isthe reddrum, callediuEastFlorida,abass;thisishereafine fish,although inthenorthern provinces theyaregenerally poor;

They

also salt a quantity of fish

which

they call " painpanos,"for

which

they get apricethreetimesashighas forotherfish.

A

fewsea,troutandthe roe ofmullets

and

blackdrum,and

some

oilfrom the liverof nuftses

and

sharksisalso carried to

make

upthecargo."

f

These " nueses"are a species ofshark

—

^{abottomfish,liv-}

ing on mollusks

—

^ofasluggish disposition,andnot ferocious or destructive, liketheir cousins.

We

sometimes bookthis species,whilefishingforsheepshead P. H. Gosse, in his

"Naturalist in Jamaica,"describesitunder the

name

of Sc-i/lUum cirrniuhi.Cn<\

Capt.

Romans

gives th followinglistof species: " King- fish,barracoreta,farpom,bouita, oavallos, ambertish,pampus, silvgr-fish,jew-fisa, groupers, rock-fish, porgys, morgate-fish, hog-fish, angel-fish, yellow-tails,red, grey, -and black-snap- pers, manuTove-snappers, dog-snappers, parrot-fish,

mutton

fish, gruhts, iriuray,mullet,?, sprats,redand black drum, iionerish.stingrays,sharks,

and

an

immense

varietyof others, allexcelleniinthi< kinds."

Mostof^ilii..-

we know

under the same

names. "Mut-

ton-fish'' are probably sheepshead,

"rOolcnW

are perhaps striped bass,which have beentaken recently iuSt.John's

River, but

what

are "amberfish,"

"dog

snappers,"

and

"

muray?" The

"parrot-fish"isa

West

Indiaspecies.

Ifoundacopyof

Roman's book

intheBoston

Atheneum, from which

I

made

extracts. g

Marietta,Gta.

Inourlast volume, page511.

we

gavea.listof Southern Sea Fishes in1(175, by Captain Dampier,justone

hundred

years before Roman's,

and

the

common name

of31,i/,dopx thrksoMeti

was

spelled, asinthe presentcase,tarpom.

Hence we

will drop our orthography,andin future spellit as originally spelled.

TROUT AND SALMON IN NEW HAMP- SHIRE.

IN

^{yournotice ofthe}trout season,

you

giveitasopening inN.H., April1. Please correctthis,asit,opens

Mavl.

thejsamcas

Maine

and Vermont.

Your

correspondent,

"Hodge,"

speaksofsalmonfishingin the

Merrimac and

Pemigewasset,butyourreadersmustbear inmind,thattheprohibitorylawdoe's not expire till June 14, '82.

Thiswill probably beassoon as

any

salmon get

up

the river,they not

making

theirappearance'at

Lawrence

usually

much

before the1stofJune.

The

poolsandeddiesatGolfsFalls,four milesbelow

Man-

chester, Ihelarge- pool hclow Hooksett Falls, eight miles above Manchestir,and the one below Garvin's Falls,five milesabove Hooksett,

Would

seemtobethemostlikely places tofindthem.

The

springsandlakes,atheadwaters, arefullthisseason, and

we

hopethatthesalmon

may

be moiv. successfulintheir efforts toascendtheMerrimac, than they warelast

summer, when

theywere caught

by

low^rwaterinJune.

The

robinsandbluebirdshave beenplentyhere for afort- night,andthe"May-fiower,"Epigearepivx,'isjust,beginning to

show

itspinkbuds. Ipickedquitealittlebunchyesterday.

But,the

winds

holdcold

from

the north,anditfrozesharply lastnight.

It is

many

years sinceIspent the earlyspringin acountry village,andinwandering about overthehills,sincethe

snow went

off

enough

to

make

tramping possible, I

am

struck withthedissapearanceofthe old familiarwoods.

No wonder

our streams dry

up

inthe

summer, and

our trout areexterminated.

We

shallhavetogetboardsof forestryyet,inNew-

Eng-

land, to preserveour water-powers,formanufacturingpur- poses,for theyare

becoming more

variableyearly, as the timberisstripped°ffofthemountains.

Sam Webber.

Charleston™,N".H.

The Dead

Fish.

—

Concerningthetilefish found on the bordersof theGulf streamthefollowingreportis

made

by Captain Ole Jorgcnsen,aNorwegian,toSecretary Wilcox, oftheBostonfishbureau:

"Ou March

14, in bit.-lOdeg., Ion.

71deg\,I

commenced

sailingat 1 o'clock in the afternoon throughgreat quantities ofdead fish,

which

I kept seeing untildark.

They

werefrom onetofourfeet in length,but mostlyfrom oneto

two

feetlong.

On March

15there

was

a,

severestorm,withrain

and

snow,andI (fidnot seeanyfish."

The

captain also states that his

men

tried to

hook up some

ofthem, but they did notsucceed, as the

wind was

blowing very hard

from

thenorthwest! At,theraleCaptain Ole Jorgcnsen

was

sailinghe

must

haveseen the dead fish forfortyorfiftymiles. Otherseamenmust, also have seen the

same

fish,sincetheir statements agree :e to the lati-

tudeand longitude and the date of seeing them. Prof.

Spencer F. Haird, of the UnitedStates'Fish

Commis-

sion,inaletter totheBostonfishbureau,desiresall

seamen who

have

come

incontactwiththesedeadfish togiveallthe factsthey observed concerning them,either to the newspa- pers,to thefishbureauor to

communicate

with

him

person- ally.

The

objectistoidentifythem, ifpossible, beyond a doubt. Prof.Bairdatpresenthasno doubt but

what

they were the tile fus\\—Lr>pho(atilui<

—

seen by his commission, bothin1880

and

1881,onthe borders ofthe Gulf stream.

Prof.Bairdthinkstheywere renderedlifelessby

some

great natural cause,

and

hencetheywere seenin suchgreat

num-

bers.

He

is of the opinion that they might have been killed

by

^theforce,oftherecent gales

which

had previously prevailed. Other

men

of science are not inclined to this idea,since,theysay,such wholesale destruction ofa, pow- erfulfishasthetilefishis

know

^Tuto be,bythe force ofthe

waves

alone,

would

have been simplyimpossible.

They

in- clinetothe belieftnat

some

volcanic action ofthe ocean

must

have destroyed them. Their death could hardlyhave beenthe result of disease, since

some

ofthe captains 'report having taken oneor

two

on board and Laving found them hard

and

nice,andtohave enjoyed gooddinners

from them

aftercooking.

The

localitymentioned by Captain OleJor- gcnsen N.lat.40deg.,

W.

lon.71deg.,correspondsalmost exact- lywithwdiere the LopholoUUi were found

by

the United StatesFish

Commission

in the

summers

or1880and1881.

Any

facts concerningthe tile fish, either dead or alive, should be

communicated

to Prof.Baird. Prof.Baird is of theopinionthattheyexist ingreat

numbers

in and about the localitymentioned,

and

that in

them

exists one of the great food' supplies ofthe ocean.

A Compact

A-nolijno Ron.

— We

wererecently

shown

by Mr.

W.

Holberton,withConroyA:Bissett, almost complete

and

compactfishing rod. Itiscalledthe'Holberton pattern split,

bamboo

trout rod,and, with Ihe exception of a ^:, butt

which

canbe carried in thepocket or in the creel ^, whole tiling goes insideof thelanding-net handle.

When

the angler arrivesat.thestream, he takes the rod out of the

bamboo

landing-net handle,screwsthefolding ring in.puts therodtogetherandallisready for business.

As

an extra rodtotake along,it isverydesirable, for, though hot over ten eetlong,itispowerful

enough

to kill agoodsizedblack bassandtocovera cast ofsixtyfeet,inexpert hands.

Whitebait.

Pawtucket,R. I.,April

4.—

I scud you by this mail

some

fish

winch

oflate have been caughtinsmall quantitiesiutheI'awtueket Riveriu tide water.

Our

fisher-

men

are trying tosellthemas"whitebait." Itell

them

that they are not whitebait,althoughI

am

nut posted _at allon fishes,but think suchfishhave beensoldinyourcity

by

that name. Will

you

havethekindnessto identifythemf,',t ,

givingboth

common and

scientific

name?

^{!, ,}pmation which

you may

give about, themwillbe appreciated

by—

Samuel

F.DiiATKi:. [The fishes

came

tohand.

They

are called "silver-sides,"and"friar"alongthecoast.

The

matic

name

jg QMrostotna nototrk Slitcb. Gill.

They

an sometimessold aswdiite-bait in

New

^rYork, hutarenot the genuinearticle.

The

true whitebaittirethe

young

of herring alewives,etc.

Now York

m< ^{' I} icaring."

They grow

nolargerihauyourspecimens.1