quences. First, that the growth of the young salmon has been greatly overrated; and, secondly, that, at a certain period of its life, the salmon is a parr. The extent to which the growth of the salmon has been overrated will be perceived at once, when it is shown that Dr. Knox, in the paper from which I have already quoted, states that the fry which emerged from their capsules on the first of April were taken, on the 22d of the same month, in the same year, as smolts, with the fly, of the size of the little finger."

Although the experiments quoted by us below refer only to trout, there can be no manner of doubt but that the mode would be equally applicable to salmon.

His plan of raising trout from the egg was a very simple one. He had a box made with a small wire grating at one end in the corner for admitting water from a fresh source, or stream, and at the other end of the side of the box there were a number of holes to allow the exit of the water; the bottom of the box was filled with pebbles and gravel of different sizes, which were kept covered with water that was always in motion. In November, or the beginning of December, when the trout were in full maturity for spawning, and collected in the river for this purpose upon the beds of gravel, he caught the males and females in a net, and by the pressure of his hands received the ova in a basin of water, and suffered the melt, seminal fluid, to pass into the basin, and after they had remained a few minutes together, he introduced them upon the gravel in the box, which was placed under a source of fresh, cool, and pure water. In a few weeks the eggs burst, and the box was filled with an immense number of young trout, which had a small bag attached to the lower part of their body, containing a part of the yolk of the egg, which was still their nourishment. In this state they were easily carried from place to place, in confined portions of fresh water, for some days, requiring apparently no food; but after about a week, the nourishment in their bag being exhausted, they began to seek their food in the water, and rapidly increased in size."

We can see no objection to Mr. Herbert's ideas that the salmon may again be introduced into those streams from which they have disappeared, now that the cause of that depopulation has probably ceased, and perfectly agree with him, that the subject is worthy of legislative attention and

enactment.

been betrayed into an error; but not being willing to array our opinions unsupported against such authority, we applied to a brother angler, whom we knew to be au fait in all the sports of the Island.

In extracting the following from his note, we would remark that the reason for not giving the name and locality was, that Dr.

requested their omission, upon the ground that too great publicity might be fatal to the sport of one of his favorite resorts. At

Pond in the vicinity of

Long Island, a friend and myself caught, last April, by trolling, fourteen pickerel, the average weight of which was four pounds."

This statement differs widely from that in the volume before us.

"The Long Island pickerel rarely, if ever, in these waters, exceed a pound weight, and that is greatly above the average, which is probably nearer one half that size."-Fish and Fishing, p. 161.

We have no space to regularly dissect this volume, but must speak of it as a whole. It is admirably got up, and reflects great credit for that, not only upon the publishers, but also upon the author, who, with unexampled industry, ingenuity, and versatility of talent, has sketched most of the illustrations, and drawn them himself upon the blocks. Of course, there are errors; the book is deficient in Southern fish, and the reason probably is, that Mr. Herbert, not being able to obtain information which he knew to be authentic, preferred to remain silent with regard to many of them. The work contains very ample directions and instructions for the fly fisher, and numerous plates of artificial flies, hooks, and other appliances of the gentle craft. Wishing the book and its author all success, we yet hope that this may be but the precursor of another and better volume, freed from some few errors that many of our brethren of the press have busied themselves in pointing out, without endeavoring to ascertain the true merits of the work.

et affair, and has at last attained to the dignity of an octavo.

The preface opens in the unpretending style which characterizes the work throughout, but little claim being made by Mr. Brown to authorship or literary attainments, the information contained having been derived from the best authorities, both English and American, and from distinguished anglers, and ichthyologists, with whom his occupation has brought him in contact. The first fifty pages of the work are devoted to a very minute account of the various kinds of tackle, hooks, flies, &c., &c., the mode of preparing them, and their use, of which numerous illustrations are given throughout the work.

THE TROUT.

To the trout our author devotes no less than forty five pages, discussing the subject in every possible manner. With regard to the weight and size of the fish, he is at issue with Mr. Herbert, and is of the opinion that it attains a much larger size than the latter gentleman will credit.

"The silver trout, a common trout, is found in almost all of our swift running Northern streams, and weighs from one to fifteen pounds."--Angler's Guide, p. 66,

"One fish I saw myself, on last New Year's day, which, shameful to tell, had been caught through the ice, near Newburgh. This fish weighed an ounce or two above five pounds, and was well fed, and apparently in good condition; but, as I said before, all these must be taken as exceptions, proving the rule that trout in American waters rarely exceed two or three pounds in weight, and never compare in size with the fish taken in England."-Fish and Fishing, p. 258.

Who shall decide, between the two contending authorities, both positive in their assertions? Not we. The largest fish of the kind it was ever our fortune to capture, measured nineteen inches, but was in bad condition and we did not weigh him. Of the modes of taking the trout, we extract:

"There are three different methods pursued in the capture of the trout. Angling at the top, with a natural or artificial fly, grasshopper, or other small insect; at the middle, with a minnow, shrimp, or similar small fish; and at the bottom, with a worm, or different kind of pastes."

Of fly fishing.-Of all the various modes adopted and contrived by the ingenuity of man, for pulling out the cunning trout, this, at once, recommends itself as the perfection of the art, but as it is considered by the majority of our brethren more difficult than worm fishing, it has many objectors. But the difficulties are more in the imagination than the practice, and when once understood, it gives the highest pleasure of the art. Others think they will not take the fly at all in this country, and having fished with a worm all the days of their life, they cannot be persuaded that, with a simple fly made of feather, they can take as many fish and oftentimes more."

We have no doubt our author is perfectly au fait on this part of his subject, and yet we are very sure that we have witnessed a performance in the fly fishing, or rather fly angling line, of which he has never dreamed.

A friend and ourselves were fishing away a few days, at a very primitive place upon Long Island, boarding with a farmer, who, though a rude angler, was nevertheless a very successful one. Our friend was a skillful fly fisher, and a short time after our arrival exhibited his collection to the host, who looked very disdainfully upon them, and inquiring the price of such things, shook his head, saying, "they would not do for his pocket, and if he wanted to use any such new fangled notions, he could make those himself that would answer the purpose quite as well." Our friend ridiculed the idea, and placing his angling bag at his disposal dared him to the feat.

An agricultural life had stiffened mine host's fingers, and rendered them totally unfitted for such delicate work-to use a vulgar expression, his fingers were all thumbs-however, to work he went, and produced some such thing as might result from throwing a lump of tar in a bag of hen's feathers, and then running a hole through it. Loud and long were our peals. of laughter, when he entered the boat with a long reed pole upon his shoulder, and at the end of its dependent line this nondescript, which he dignified with the title of artificial fly. Not in the least annoyed at our ridicule, he insisted that with it he would take such a fish as we never before had seen and he did-for, whirling his long line like a whip lash, at the very moment he darted it forward for the cast, a swallow seized the bait, and found itself without a head, instanter. The laugh was now upon our host's side, but, alas, this triumph was his last.

Should Mr. Brown, or any other gentleman in the business, desire a pattern of his invention, we shall take pleasure in referring him to the inventor, and informing him of his local habitation, and his name.

Among the many fine fish that frequent our Atlantic coast, none can be found more truly deserving the title of "game," than the striped bass.

They are met with in the bays, estuaries, and rivers from Florida to Massachusetts Bay, but perhaps Chesapeake Bay is their favorite place of resort. According to Mr. Brown they sometimes attain the weight of one hundred pounds.

There appears to be some difference of

elli," we cannot divine; he might with equal authority have tacked his name to the white shark or to the bones of the mastodon, and the last would have savored less of vanity than affixing his cognomen to a common table fish, known from time immemorial all over Europe."

for the table to none of the finny tribe, especially in the northern cities, in whose markets of late years he has become almost a rarity, and of course his value has proportionably increased.

"In the early season shrimp is far the best bait, especially where the water is salt, though in the Passaic anglers are very successful in the use of shad-roe as a bait. This bait is rather difficult to manage by a novice. The experienced angler makes use of tow or wool. Cutting his bait with as much of the skin as possible, and winding a few strands of tow or wool around it on the hook.

"The shad-roe has been tried repeatedly at Maccomb's Dam, and in Newtown Creek, without success; the reason is obvious to the writer. The shad run up the fresh water streams to spawn, and are never known to spawn at either of the places just mentioned. In the latter part of June, the bass prefer the soft or shedder crab, though the shrimp continues to be used with success until near the

first of August, when the crab is decidedly the best of all baits that can be used. The mode of angling consequently varies at this time. While using the shrimp, the angler is generally most successful, by using the float, and suspending his hook from mid water to within a foot of the bottom, excepting where the water is quite shallow, when it should hang just so as to clear the bottom, as in water of little depth the fish look for their prey near the bottom.

But when crab bait is new, the best mode of fishing is for the bait to lie on the bottom, a sliding sinker is then the best, always as light as the tide will allow. The largest fish are generally taken by thus fishing at the bottom without a float, and the reason of dispensing with the float is obvious, if we look at the habits of the fish. In angling with shrimp the bait should be suspended as above stated, because the shrimps, by the action of the current, are frequently swept from the edges of the channel, or driven by eels or other enemies, and the bass look for them accordingly; when feeding on crab, however, these fish search along the bottom to find the crab in his helpless and defenceless state, and swim with their bodies at an angle, with the head downward, where experience teaches them to find their prey."

With some slight notice of the sheepshead, we must now close the work.

The sheepshead is thought to be inferior

Upon the sedgy flats of Galveston and San Jacinto bays, which serve as nurseries, they are found in incredible numbers, and of all sizes, weighing from a quarter of a pound to ten and twelve pounds.

According to Mr. Brown, they are sometimes taken in the northern waters, of the weight of fifteen pounds, and it is highly probable that none but the largest and oldest of the kind ever find their way north of the capes of the Chesapeake.

The plate on page 46, like the two preceding a fac simile of the one to be found in the "Angler's Guide"-is very nearly a perfect representation of the fish.

One fault is however evident to all sportsmen acquainted with him-those sharp projecting teeth are entirely wrong; his mouth is armed with teeth, hard as paving stones, and large as kernels of corn, resembling those of the sheep, and from this he derives his name.

"Strong tackle is essential for taking them, as they are a very vigorous and powerful fish, and are furnished with a fine set of front teeth, resembling the teeth of the sheepwhence the name. The sheepshead will take the whole clam in his mouth when he finds it, and crack it without the aid of the fisherman, &c."

virtute," go on and

In conclusion we can but add "macte prosper, Mr. Brown, we trust that your volume, which has grown from a small duodecimo to a respectable octavo, may continue to increase until leaving its state of single blessedness, it may appear in a connubial trio volume condition, both as full of instruction and amusement as this. And may all brothers of the angle, in the place of finding fault with the trivial errors, or grumbling at the omissions of our author, put their own shoulders to the wheel, and furnish with such information as it may be in their power to supply, those who are equally