HISTORY OF THE ICHTHYOLOCxY OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 29 



the province is still in its infancy ; nor is it complimentar}^ 

 to the scientiiic spirit of provincialists to be reminded of 

 the fact that whatever little of a systematic character has 

 been done is, with one exception, the work of foreigners. 



CHAPTER II. 



The earliest reference to our fishes is to be found in 

 " L'Histoire JSTaturelle de 1' Amerique kSeptentrionale, par 

 I^icholas De'nys, Paris, 1672." The author lived in A.cadie 

 (i^ova Scotia and Xew Brunswick) twenty years or more, 

 and carried on extensive iishing and trading operations 

 at several pomts on the coast between Cape Breton and 

 Gaspe, especially at Bathurst and Point Miscou in 'New 

 Brunswick. Though he enumerates but a few species, 

 principally the staple food-lishes and a few others con- 

 spicuous by their large size and peculiar habits, and refers 

 to many smaller river and marine forms in a general way, 

 the ichthyological student is able to identify about twenty 

 species at least. As already stated, they are principally 

 the leading food-iishes, such as the salmon, cod, mackerel, 

 shad, hei-ring, trout, haddock, sturgeon, smelt, etc.; but 

 he also speaks of three kinds of rays, a sardine, an anchovy 

 and a flat-fish, which are hard to identify from the very 

 meagre description given. One of the points of greatest 

 interest, however, is found in his description of the 

 " Espadon," which would seem to be the " saw-fish," 

 jmstis yecienatus Latham ^ an uncommon visitor, and 



* "L'espadon est un poisson gros comme vine vache, de six a 

 huit pieds de longueur, qui va en diminuant vers la queue ; il a 

 sur le nez un espadon, dont il prend le noni, qui est long d'envir- 

 ons trois pieds, large d'environs quatre bons doigts ; il y a de deux 

 costez de cet espadon des pointes longues d'lm pouce, de pareille 

 distance les uns des autres, et va etraissessant vers le bovit ; il ne 

 plye point et est dur et fort roide. — L'Histoire Naturellc, par N. 

 Denys, Paris, 1672." 



