, ^ ry ft f? Y': ^^\ 



492 



AMERICAN FISHES. 



Cobessicontic Smelt are two of the land-locked forms which have received 

 specific names. 



The European Smelt, O. eperlanus, which, though very similar in form 

 to our own, differs from it in the size of its scales, is found in Southern 

 Sweden, as far north as Christiania Fjord district, lat. 62°, and south as 

 the entrance to the river Loire, lat. 47°, ascending the Seine as high as 

 Rouen. It is the "Stint" and the " Spearling " of (Germany, the 

 " Smelt " or " Sparling " of England, and the " Spiering " or " Spearl- 

 ing " of Holland. It is found in the Baltic, and, entering the Gulf of 

 Finland, becomes a member of the fauna of Russia, and is found land- 

 locked in cool lakes, especially those of Norway, and also in many of the 

 lakes of Northern Germany, and even as far south as Bavaria. 



The Smelt enters our rivers and brackish bays during the winter months 

 for the purpose of spawning, and at this period is caught in immense 

 quantities in nets and by hook and line. 



It is to be regretted that no one has made careful observations upon the 

 beginning and close of the breeding season of this species at different 

 points along the coast, but the spawn appears to be deposited, generally, 

 late in the winter and early in the spring. The smelt fishery is increasing 

 yearly in importance, owing to the greater facilities for the transportation 

 offish in ice. As long ago as 1853, Storer stated that m Watertown, Mass., 

 alone, about 750,000 dozen were annually taken in scoop-nets from the 

 first of March to the first of June. Perley, stated in 1852, that on 

 the Gulf coast of New Brunswick large quantities were used every season 

 as manure, while at the fishing stations in the Bay of Chaleur it was taken 

 in the seine, and used as bait for cod. At the present time, however, 

 there is an enormous shipment of Smelts from this region to the United 

 States, forty car-loads sometimes being received m New York in the course 

 of one winter. As early as 1864, according to a note from Mr. J. 

 Matthew Jones, quantities of Smelts were packed at Halifax for shipment 

 to the United States. 



Although on account of its great abundance it sells in the markets at a 

 low price, it is among the very choicest of all our food-fishes. 



The "Green" Smelts, as they are called, or those which have never 

 been frozen, are much the more highly esteemed, especially those which 

 come from the Raritan Bay and other points in the vicinity of New York. 



