PHOTO by LAMAR MUMBAR & OFFICIAL STATE FEBRUARY, 1935 PUBLICATION ^ANGLER/ Vol.4 No
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PHOTO BY LAMAR MUMBAR & OFFICIAL STATE FEBRUARY, 1935 PUBLICATION ^ANGLER/ Vol.4 No. 2 i^^^^^.^:-:: :^z •.•:•.::} •-•^^•-- -••• ••••„• ...: :.. - — . - •• "--•:•- -•• COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA PUBLISHED MONTHLY BOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS by the Pennsylvania Board of Fish Commissioners lUl aaa ^P OLIVER M. DEIBLER Five cents a copy <T~J 50 cents a year Commissioner of Fisheries C. R. BULLER Deputy Commissioner of Fisheries S3 S3 S3 Pleasant Mount S3 £3 £3 ALEX P. SWEIGART, Editor Members of Board South Office Bldg., Harrisburg, Pa. OLIVER M. DEIBLER, Chairman Greensburg JOHN HAMBERGER J3 £3 E3 Erie DAN R. SCHNABEL Johnstown NOTE Subscriptions to the PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER LESLIE W. SEYLAR should be addressed to the Editor. Submit fee MeConnellsburg either by check or money order payable to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Stamps not ac EDGAR W. NICHOLSON ceptable. Individuals sending cash do so at their Philadelphia own risk. KENNETH A. REID •f Connellsville PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER welcomes contri ROY SMULL butions and photos of catches from its readers. Mackeyville Proper credit will be given to contributors. GEORGE E. GILCHRIST All contributions returned if accompanied by Lake Como first class postage. H. R. STACKHOUSE Secretary to Board Ml. 1 • IMPORTANT—The Editor should be notified immediately of change in subscriber's addreS Permission to reprint will be granted provided proper credit notice is given PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER HONORABLE GEORGE H. EARLE Governor of Pennsylvania A Message to Pennsylvania Sportsmen From Governor Earle FELLOW SPORTSMEN: I am grateful to the Editor of your ANGLEE for this opportunity to send a message to you. Pennsylvania has achieved an enviable position as a leader in game con servation, largely through the efforts of the organized sportsmen in holding true to two great principles. The first, that the Game Commission should be constituted and its affairs administered on a non-political basis. Trouble has followed as a result of relaxation, of this rule. The second and equally important, is the preservation of the Game and Fish funds. Hunting and fishing license fees are in no sense a tax. They are rather voluntary contributions by the Sportsmen of the State to the cause of conservation. It would be a breach of trust to divert them. The first of these principles I propose to restore to activity, and the second to uphold. In this I ask your loyal support, so we may keep Penns}dvania in front as the best game State of the Union. o PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER Insect Killers of Fish LICKERING half-light penetrates the the water tiger has struck a quarry almost Xorth American species and several others Fwater of a tiny bay in a woodland pond. inevitably death follows. Its sickle-shaped that are confined to the tropics." The home of sunfish, minnows, catfish, suck jaws tear into the pickerel, and clinging Benacus deposits its eggs usually on verti ers, and pickerel, this pond harbors fishes there, this amazing insect terror absorbs the cal plant stems above the surface of the common to our waters when the Red Man life from its prey. water. These eggs are among the largest knew them. In it, nature's balance has been In the daphnia beds at Pleasant Mount deposited by insects. When hatched, the maintained. Its weed-beds are rich areas for hatchery, water tigers frequently are ob young immediately enter predatory roles with the production of aquatic organisms so es served. Viewing them from above as they an enthusiasm not greatly exceeded by their sential to the development of baby fish; fed glide through the water in the ponds, one elders. Usually, in the early stages, their by deep-seated springs, its water level varies has the impression that they swim on their food consists of the eggs of fishes, young but slightly during the year. There is a sides. Both the diving beetle and its larva snails, and other small organisms. Fish faintly brown tint to the water, not suffi- are cannibalistic by nature, preying on spawn is eaten readily by both aquatic cient, however, to retard a view of the others of their own kind and larva and beetles and water bugs and their young. strange drama being enacted in the little bay water forms of different species of insects. Water Scorpions fringed by the weedbeds. For here, lurking Dytiscus, the diving beetle, deposits its eggs in the weeds, are strange creatures, insect singly in punctures made in green aquatic Comprising the last group of fish-destroy destroyers of fish life that in voracity and plants and from the day its young, the water ing insects to be considered in this article sheer lust to kill are unequaled in the water tiger, is hatched, it is a voracious killer. are the water scorpions. Like the giant wa world. Like the vampires of legend, they Giant Water Bugs ter bugs, these voracious insects rely upon destroy by sucking the life from their vic their coloration for concealment on the stream Just as Dytiscus and its savage protege tims. « bed or among the weeds as they await the are menaces to smaller fish and organisms approach of young fish. They also seek First to attract attention is Dytiscus, a of the inland waters, Benacus, a giant water greedily for fish eggs. Two front legs are predatory diving beetle about two inches in bug, ranks as an outstanding enemy to larger equipped for seizing the prey, while the other length, armored for protection and capable fish. Somewhat oval in shape, these great four legs are adapted to walking. In the of destroying a fish several times its own sucking bugs that occasionally leave the water scorpion classification are two types. size. Its body, oval in shape, flattened and water for short flights after nightfall possess In Nepa, (illustration 6) in the accompany having a smooth polished surface, is black jointed beaks directed backwards beneath ing cut, the body is flat and thin. Ranatra in color and fringed with lighter margins. the head with which they puncture the skin (Figure 7) has a long cylindrical body. Fig Concerning it, A. B. Champlain, curator of of a fish and suck its life juices. In color insects of the Pennsylvania Department of ure 5 illustrates the backswimmer, the back they range from greenish to brownish: their of which is shaped not unlike the bottom of Agriculture, has written: "Both adults and hind legs are long and powerful, somewhat a boat. These peculiar insects swim upside young of this group are fierce and voracious, flat in structure to aid them in swimming, consuming great quantities of aquatic forms while the forelegs are curved to help them down and are equipped with sharp beaks of life." in seizing and holding their prey. Like through which they suck the life juice of Dytiscus, the diving beetle, they and their their prey. They also have wings and are As Dytiscus plunges toward the pond bot capable of flying from pond to pond. tom in search of prey it carries with it a young must come to the surface occasionally for air. Backswimmers and water scorpions are tiny bubble of air which is to serve as an true bugs and bear a close relationship to oxygen supply while it is beneath the sur The giant w-ater bug in our woodland pond giant water bugs in classification as well as face. Its body is propelled by long hind is following a system not unlike that of the habits. legs fringed with stiff hairs. snapping turtle in seeking its prey. Blend Tiger! Tiger! ing well with the vegetation on the pond The savage abandon with which insects But if Dytiscus, the diving beetle, is some bottom its brownish body is not readily dis pursue and capture their prey comprises one what appalling in its method of destruction, tinguishable to a passing sucker of possible of the strangest chapters in the story of the its larva, the water tiger, is truly terrifying. four-inch length. As the fish passes the great water world. Comparatively small and diffi Perhaps "water tiger" is not the most ap insect darts with incredible rapidity at it. cult to observe in action (even the giant plicable term for it, this long slender crea Those powerful curved forelegs grasp the water bugs are usually under three inches ture, equipped with sharp-pointed hollow prey and the beak is plunged into its body. in length) they perhaps exceed in voracity jaws. Rather, there is much suggesting From the instant of contact the battle is the most voracious species of fish life. These that bloodthirsty killer of the animal world, practically over. Possibly some poisonous little creatures are endowed with amazing the weasel. Its sinuous swimming and man secretion ejected from the beak of the at strength and their struggle for existence, ner of attacking a victim holds a strange tacker has served to stupefy the victim. As not only with the various species of fishes likeness to the tiny ace-killer of the animal it sucks the life from the fish the bug seems but with others of their own kind, is per kingdom. to be having a leisurely time completing haps the most relentless known today. Propelled by hair-like fringes on its legs its work of destruction. These great insects Then, too, they play a vital part in pre and the last two segments of body and tail, have been said to attack fish three or four serving the balance of nature which is so the water tiger stalks its quarry among the times their own size and usually come off essential in any body of water. Their forays weeds of the tiny bay.