OBSTRUCTIONS TO THE ASCENT OF FISPI IN RIVERS. 629 



It is a fact too apparent to need further confirmation that the trap 

 and pound-nets have entirely exterminated this fish from the south 

 shore of Lake Ontario. They have been set in the mouths of nearly 

 all the rivers emptying into the lake, and consequently the fish have 

 become an easy prey to the fisherman. 



In conclusion, I would say that I found the Saint Lawrence to have 

 once been inhabited very largely by the salmon, and it is the opinion 

 of the inhabitants living along its banks that it might again be stocked. 



Eespectfully submitted. 



M. C. EDMUNDS. 

 Prof. Spencer F. Baird, 



Smithsonian Institution^ Washington, B. C. 



C— OBSTEXJCTIONS IN SOME OF THE RIVERS IN VIRGINIA. 



By M. McKexnie. 



University of Virginia, Octoher 2, 1872. 



My Dear Sir : Your esteemed favor of 30th ultimo came duly to hand 

 on yesterday. As you are aware, I have been much interested in this ques- 

 tion for several years, but I fear that little can be done until some cun- 

 ning leech is able to ajiply some plaster to our i^eople which shall arouse 

 them to a sense of their duty to themselves and their children. The 

 project started in a small way by the legislature of 1870-'71 was dropped 

 by that of 1871-'72. 



In reply to your inquiry, I beg to state that, on James River, the first 

 dam above Richmond* is 9 miles above that city. 



The Appomattox is closed by a dam one mile above Petersburgh. 



The Rappahannock is closed by a dam one mile above Fredericks- 

 burgh. The Rapidan is a tributary of Rappahannock. 



Thes Pamunkey and Mattapony unite to form the York, and not far 

 above their junction these streams are closed. 



The Potomac is free pretty high up. Black bass have been caught in 

 the Shenandoah at Port Republic, which place they have reached by 

 going over the low dams which exist below that point. 



The Chowan is also closed a very short distance above its jiroper 

 mouth at the head of tide-water. The Roanoke is closed at no great 

 distance from Weldon. 



By introducing the fish into New River, or the Greenbrier, near Rou- 

 ceverte, on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, the headwaters of the Ohio 

 might be stocked, if the length of the Mississippi and Ohio do not prove 

 an obstacle to the ascent of the fishes to their spawning-grounds. 

 I am, yours, truly, 



M. McKENNIE. 



Thaddeus Norris, Esq., 



Philaddplda. 



* Riclimoncl is at the lieatl of tide-water. 



