Rights in the North Atlantic (Philadelphia, 1888). See Game Laws; Feræ Naturæ. For a discussion of international relations arising from the seal fisheries in Bering Sea, see Bering Sea Controversy.
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| FISHKILLER. |
FISHKILLER. One of the great aquatic bugs of the heteropterous family Belostomidæ, which prey upon fishes. They are the largest of existing bugs, some reaching a length of four inches, and have an oval outline, flat body, and a brownish hue, easily hidden. Their legs are flattened into powerful swimming organs, except the foremost pair, which are incurved and form organs for seizing and holding their victims, aided by hooks and processes on the inner surface of the tibiæ. The mouth-parts include a strong beak for stabbing the prey, from which all the blood is sucked before it is let go. At the end of the abdomen are two narrow flattened appendages, which are extensile but not concerned in respiration. The family is numerously represented in the rivers and ponds of northern Africa and southern Asia, but most extensively in America. The largest known species is Belostoma grandis of the Amazonian region, where it lurks on the muddy bottoms of sluggish streams and bayous, ready to seize any salamander, fish, or other aquatic animal that it can overcome. The two most abundant and largest species in the United States are Belostoma Americanum and Benacus griseus, which much resemble one another in the brown-gray color and shape, but may be distinguished by the fact that the Belostoma “has a double groove on the under side of its fore thighs which is lacking on the thighs of Benacus.” These bugs swarm about electric street lights in such numbers as to be known in many places, of late, as ‘electric-light bugs.’ They breed and develop wholly in the water, but their life history is not well known. The females of a related genus, Zaitha, have been found to have the curious habit of depositing and fastening their eggs upon the backs of the males, who unwillingly carry them about until they hatch. Great damage may follow the introduction of these bugs into fish-cultural establishments. Consult Summers. “The True Bugs, or Heteroptera, of Tennessee,” in Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin, vol. iv., No. 3 (Nashville, 1891).
FISHKILL LANDING, or FISHKILL-ON-HUDSON.
A village in Dutchess County, N. Y.,
58 miles north of New York City; on the east
bank of the Hudson River, opposite Newburg,
with which it is connected by a steam ferry, and
on the New York Central and other railroads
(Map: New York, G 4). It has a picturesque
location, is the seat of the De Garmo Institute,
and, as one of the oldest villages in the State,
is replete with historical interest. The village
manufactures hats, rubber goods, Corliss engines
and boilers, etc. Fishkill Landing was
incorporated in 1866, and, under a revised charter of
1870, is administered by a mayor, chosen
annually, and a village council, elected on a general
ticket. Population, in 1890, 3617; in 1900, 3673.
The town of Fishkill Landing was settled probably
about 1695. In 1776 the Provincial
Convention of New York met here, and from 1776 to
the close of the Revolution, Fishkill was one of
the principal military depots of the Northern
Army. Joshua H. Smith, at whose house Arnold
and André met on September 22, 1780, lived
here, and at the Verplanck homestead the
Society of the Cincinnati was organized in 1783.
Consult: Smith, History of Dutchess County
(Pawling, N. Y., 1877); an article, “Fishkill in
the Revolution,” in the Publications of the
Historical Society of Newburg Bay, for 1894); and
Verplanck, “The Birthplace of the Order of the
Cincinnati,” in New England Magazine, No. 5,
vol. xiv. (Boston, 1896).
FISH-LOUSE, or SEA-LOUSE. Any of various small crustaceans (copepods) which live parasitically on the outside or in the branchial chambers of marine animals, especially fishes and whales. All are of small size, and attached either temporarily or permanently to the hosts on the juices of which they live, although many species have also the power of swimming freely in the water, some of their legs being adapted to this purpose. They do not begin life as parasites, the females depositing their eggs on stones, plants, etc. They are animals of singular form and appearance. In the genus Aragulus there is a curious sucking disk on each side of the beak, or proboscis, although there are also jointed members terminated by prehensile hooks. In the genus Caligus the hooks of the anterior pairs of feet are the principal organs of adhesion to the slippery bodies of the fishes from which food is to be drawn, and the abdomen of the female is furnished with two remarkably long tubes, the functions of which are not perfectly ascertained. The bodies of all of them are transparent, or nearly so. Consult United States Fish Commission Annual Reports (Washington, 1871 et seq.) for particulars as to the extensive list of species catalogued in American waters. See Copepoda.
FISH MANURE. Dried and ground fish or fish guano is a valuable fertilizer obtained mainly from two sources: (1) The refuse from fish packing and canning establishments, and (2) the pomace from the extraction of oil from fish—in America, chiefly the menhaden. The product from the latter source is especially rich in fertilizing constituents, containing from 7 to 8 per cent. of nitrogen and 6 to 8 per cent. of phosphoric acid. The availability of the nitrogen is nearly as great as that of dried blood and tankage. The phosphoric acid is frequently more available than that in other organic matter. The availability of the fertilizing constituents depends largely upon the proportion of oil present. A considerable proportion of the latter delays decomposition in the soil, and thus reduces the availability. The oil is removed and the fish prepared for use as a fertilizer on a commercial scale by cooking with water in tanks heated with steam. The oil rises to the surface of the water and the two are drawn off together. The residue is pressed, dried, and ground. In some cases, after the first pressing, the material is subjected to the action of steam under pressure and sulphuric acid (5 per cent.) to render the fertilizing constituents more available. The uncooked fish is sometimes treated directly with sulphuric acid
