CONCORD, May 8, 1847.
DEAR SIR,--I believe that I have not yet acknowledged the receipt of
your notes, and a five-dollar bill. I am very glad that the fishes
afforded Mr. Agassiz so much pleasure. I could easily have obtained
more specimens of the _Sternothærus odoratus_; they are quite numerous
here. I will send more of them ere long. Snapping turtles are perhaps
as frequently met with in our muddy river as anything, but they are
not always to be had when wanted. It is now rather late in the season
for them. As no one makes a business of seeking them, and they are
valued for soups, science may be forestalled by appetite in this
market, and it will be necessary to bid pretty high to induce persons
to obtain or preserve them. I think that from seventy-five cents to a
dollar apiece would secure all that are in any case to be had, and
will set this price upon their heads, if the treasury of science is
full enough to warrant it.
You will excuse me for taking toll in the shape of some, it may be,
impertinent and unscientific inquiries. There are found in the waters
of the Concord, so far as I know, the following kinds of fishes:--
_Pickerel._ Besides the common, fishermen distinguish the brook, or
grass pickerel, which bites differently, and has a shorter snout.
Those caught in Walden, hard by my house, are easily distinguished
from those caught in the river, being much heavier in proportion to
their size, stouter, firmer-fleshed, and lighter-colored. The little
pickerel which I sent last, jumped into the boat in its fright.
_Pouts._ Those in the pond are of different appearance from those that
I have sent.
_Breams._ Some more green, others more brown.
_Suckers._ The horned, which I sent first, and the black. I am not
sure whether the common or Boston sucker is found here. Are the three
which I sent last, which were speared in the river, identical with the
three black suckers, taken by hand in the brook, which I sent before?
I have never examined them minutely.
_Perch._ The river perch, of which I sent five specimens in the box,
are darker-colored than those found in the pond. There are myriads of
small ones in the latter place, and but few large ones. I have counted
ten transverse bands on some of the smaller.
_Lampreys._ Very scarce since the dams at Lowell and Billerica were
built.
_Shiners._ _Leuciscus chrysoleucus_, silver and golden. What is the
difference?
_Roach_ or _Chiverin_ (_Leuciscus pulchellus_, _argenteus_, or what
not). The _white_ and the _red_. The former described by Storer, but
the latter, which deserves distinct notice, not described, to my
knowledge. Are the minnows (called here dace), of which I sent three
live specimens, I believe, one larger and two smaller, the young of
this species?
_Trout._ Of different appearance in different brooks in this
neighborhood.
_Eels._
_Red-finned Minnows_, of which I sent you a dozen alive. I have never
recognized them in any books. Have they any scientific name?
If convenient, will you let Dr. Storer see these brook minnows? There
is also a kind of dace or fresh-water smelt in the pond, which is,
perhaps, distinct from any of the above. What of the above does M.
Agassiz particularly wish to see? Does he want more specimens of kinds
which I have already sent? There are also minks, muskrats, frogs,
lizards, tortoises, snakes, caddice-worms, leeches, muscles, etc., or
rather, _here they are_. The funds which you sent me are nearly
exhausted. Most fishes can now be taken with the hook, and it will
cost but little trouble or money to obtain them. The snapping turtles
will be the main expense. I should think that five dollars more, at
least, might be profitably expended.