Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-01-30
QUEER CREATURES. TINY.
Fish and Tortoise witch Har. Res. w,p>d
on the Earth.

On the Iarth.
SURPRISING HISTORY OF rHr ru.r ,,.r--rr
FAMOUS GALAPAGOS TURTLES AND row TINY
ARE BEISo ExrIRrATEp-eIAxr roRro,sts M
LONG Aoo-AS EXTRAORDINARY GROUP or
ISLANDS.
No other sort OF creature ever had m mv~-
terious history as tho tile fish. Har5ly w..
1t discovered when it disappeared from ,b.
waters OF the earth. It's numerous race beins
rendered apparently extinct by az unknorn
and vell-nigh incxplicable calamity. soma
hope is felt by ichthyologists tha, the spec,e.
viii yet prove TO have had some few survivor.
whose progeny will restock The sea in nur,h.r.
profitable 10 the fishermen. Not long .ro
the United States fish commission tr,ca
earnestly with hook and line FOR specimen. 1.
the neighborhood which sheir Kind formerl,
occupied. but without catching a single ons
The probability seems 20 10 that this interest,"
ing animal has been entirely extirpated not Q
single member OF the family remaining.
THE TILE FISH,
but FOR tho disaster which DESTROYED Ga tr;,..
would have shortly proved one Of the mos, val.
liable food nshes in the coastal waters Of th.
Atlantic. La weight it ran from five 10 forty
pounds. and the few persons who had the good
fortune 90 partake OF Il a. a dish found il Won
oetiuily delicious In flavor. Ii was brilliantly
coiored. being Of pale violet hue on the nuck
Hn9 NLiish on the belly, with markings Of
light yellow. Up 10 1879 10 never seems 10 hav.
been seen or heard OF. During that wear i'm
May schooner called the Hutchings was
engaged an ''trawlng' Tor cod south OF Nam
tueAet Island. "trawl" is a line from half a
:, ma. 70 three miles long. with hooks all along
a. H'er'ais OF Few feet, which is stretched
py buoys and sinkers. the fishermen Going
hioag 10 every few hours and unlocking ths
nsh Nhlch have been attracted by the bats and
hooked themselves. The method is not very
/ ePortshan-ilhe, but At Is profitable. On the
occasion referred TO the schooner mentioned
| caught on Its travis 5000 pounds of An nm
nnoNn hsh, which proved 10 be new 20 aclenoe.
MOS OF them were thrown away. but some
| "eie eaAeh 10 Gloucester and smoked.
IN NEW ENGLAND WATERS
h'niy, 1873 more tile fish we're taken, on hand
iihes' oy a schooner named the Friend, while
"!itg ior COD, and In lSs0 and lsSl, while On
gagged IN exploring the sea bottom of New Enc
land, the fish commission steamer Fi,b Hs.t
| captured specimens on several OCCASIONS The
| olseoNery In apparent abundance of a nav ana
| eaioie nsh OF large size was regarded bv Prof.
L~.f a. OF great importance Unfortunately,
/ peiore the prof. Investigations respectins
u could be begun the disaster happened
MILES OF DEAD FISH
In March end April lss2, vessels arriving "A
Philadelphia, New York and Boston reported
having passed large numbers OF dead and diving
nsh scattered over an area Of many niles These
| were ascertained TO have been mostly tile fsh
ana II soon became apparent that a vast DC.
struetion OF them had taken place. those on
| board OF many sailing craft stating thar tbev
had sailed for from forty TO sixty miles tbronch
| noatlng hsh- One schooner ploughed for no
| less than $50 miles through water covered n.
lar as the eve could reach with diving fishes.
FROM careful computations ii was found that
hat a =
was SO thickly covered with these finnv victim.
| .hat their number must have exceeded ono
| billion. No signs OF disease nor PARASITES ON
| the hsh brought in for examination suggested
cause lor tue calamity, and various conjoc-
lures were brought forward on the subject
among others a possible eruption of a subma-
rine volcano. The theory was accented later
on that in all likelihood an unusual lowering ~
temperature IN the warm belt Of deep water
| occupied by the tile fish killed them Az ali
events the species was rendered suddenly sr-
tinct.
MAMMOTH TORTOISE
few days ago a huge tortoise reached the
Smithsonian Institution addressed TO Osteol-
ogist Lucas, by whom il was killed, being not
yet quite dead, and prepared for skeletonizinc
Ii came all the way from the Galapagos Islands
aud deserved to he regarded as a valuable
curiosity, owing to the fact that very few Of
THESE monster land turtles nov survive the
species being peculiar 10 the group mentioned
| on the west coast OF South America
Ihe Galapagos archipelago, comprising ff-
teen small islands which he directly on the
equator, was 30 named by the Spaniard. IN the
sixteenth century on account OF the wonderful
| number OF huge black tortOises found Their.
| Inns group was found by Prof Agassiz 70 con-
tain an extraordinary fauna, not less than
twenty different animals being discovered there
| which were unknown elseN here In the world
Most interesting OF them were the big turtles.
some OF which attained a weight of nearly 1 600
pounds. There were several species, each being
confined 10 a single island. They are vegetable
feeders, living largely on succulent cactus.
which serves the double purpose OF food and
drink. Being very fond of fresh water thew
| make long pllgrimages TO reach the wells on
the heights OF the islands. travelling day and
| night at the rate OF three or four miles an
| hour. Thus in the course Of centuries regular
roads have been made by then 20 and from the
springs. and il was by following these WE'LL
| Travelled paths from the coast that the Span
iards first came across the watering places
THE GALAPAGOS ToRroIsEs
are thought to be entirely deaf. taking no no
tice even Of the report Of q gun. These
creatures furnish an ideal live stock for sailors
purposes, requiring little care and remaining
fat without food for several months. Accord
ingly whaling and other vessels have for many
years been accustomed to catch great numbers
of the turtles for fresh provisions A single
ship has been known 10 take away as many a.
200 at one time. Prior 20 1870 forty or fifty
| whslers annually visited the islands. and in ali
several millions OF the unfortunate reptiles
were carried off. Being sluggish and defense
less there was difficulty in catching them.
ToRToIsEs FOR FRESH MEAT.
In 1929 the government OF Ecuador estab-
lished a penal colony on one Of the islandS
which relied principally upon the tortoises for
fresh meat. Large numbers OF them we're de-
stroyed for the purpose of obtaining their oil,
of which commodity big and fat specimea
would yield i've or six gallons. Dogs. too, in
troduced by the colonists have DESTROYED
myriads Of the young turtles, which they watch
for and devour soon as matched. The AMI
mails are known to live to q greatage one speci-
men having recorded antiquity of over eighty
years. Not many years will have passed before
they are entirely extinct
There used 10 be giant species Of tortoiss
| in Mauritius. Van Neck. the discoverer Of the
dodo, found some there which were so large
that six men could be seated in a single she'll
Another authority states that 1000 or 5000 Of
| them were sometimes seen in one drove.
| Remedy for Mosquitoes
Fish are recommended by the chronological
bureau as q remedy or rather preventive q