The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1882-08-13
LONESOME LAKE NOTES.
HOW do Fish Keep Themselves Alive
The Mystery of Information

Trout will not rise freely to the fy In snow
water, and large trout are especially wary Of
anything which pretends to he living moth
when the days for moth life have not yet
come. All over the lake the trout were
swimming In large schools, lifting their
heads now and then out Of water. could
see thousands, and, watching them closely,
at length discoveted small guat ON the
surface, which had come out In an uutimcly
Matching. The memories vt the older ilsh
were sluggish, and they did not sccm that
these were eatahle objects. II was only the
small fry thatwero taking this food and dis.
turbing the otherwise Hat surface Of the
lake. had q new experience IN angling.
| wanted q few fish for supper, and when n
breeze ripplcd the surface | cast for them.
But no fish rose TO my cast on 4 ripple, nor
would ono rise until I put ON the smallest
dun aud yellow gnat, aud cast on the Nat,
still water IN the calm. They were evi.
IDENTITY feeding on the small flies which had
dropped dead on the water, and did not rise
TO them as they flew along. took q dozcn
fish, all small, by sinking my gnais, aud
drawing very slowly, with short gentle
jerks, q Tow inches at time. While tho
wind blew and the water rippled, no fish
would come up TO the surface.
These fish were very plump aud fat a.
are all trout in the early season. What Ia
they fatten on The leo ON this lake n
three TO five feet thick from December IA
May. The hills around Il are covered dur.
ing this time with snow many feet deep,
There is no life outside Of the water.
The mystery OF fish food has yet TO he cx.
planned. II were better perhaps 60 say the
mystery of fish flesh. II Is plain 20 me,
from close observation for many years. that
trout do not necessarily lose flesh when cut
of from food. There does not exist, or cN
ists in very small degree, in some fish, the
law of animal life that the flesh changes hy
the excretons and resupply through food
and digestion. | have kept trout without
food for months in cold spring water, In
which by constant microscopic examination
I could not detect u particle Of animalculT
life and without diminution of weight.
have tried this experiment with care many
times. Do fish pcrspireH | suppose not.
In the winter, as we'll rs other seasons,
trout feed on one another, hut this will
scarcely account for the large growth which
the hatch of 1sS0-'S1 show in 1882. II "
true that out ofthe stomach and throat OF one
of the trout taken this afternoon | extracted
the undigested backbone of another trout,
which backbone was only an inch shortertliau
that of the fish which had swallowed and Iii.
gested its relation. But none of the stomacls
ofthe others contained any fish relics. found
them mostly empty, the only living animals
there being now and then snail, shell and
all, who, beginning to move in the sunshine
which ought to have been summary, was
caught by the hungry trout.
The view of the mountains waking from
winter sleep is full of interest. 1t is moi
alone the vegetable, but large part of ami.
nal life, which has been in deep slumber
To freeze is not always to kill animal or vege
table. Innumerable eggs or Larvae of insects
are frozen solid through the winter. As
came up the mountain saw to-day tire,
varieties of butterflies or moths of consider
able size, one of them two or three inches
| across, fitting in the SUNSHINE 1t cannot
have been long since they were frozen Jumps
in their cocoons. Toads are not moving ye
high up on the hill, but they are noisy in
the valley. They arestll sleeping on the hill
side, and l fancy have been frozen hard
since November. | do not know that any
one has made catalogue of the animals
which are frozen in the winter and revive
in the summer. 1t would he interesting
and surprising to many.-N. Prime in ~
y, IOUTu u OF Commerce..