275 [Packard. 



are also specimens from Greenland belonging to this species in the col- 

 lection of this Society, collected by the Williams College expedition to 

 Greenland and Labrador in 18G0. 



Salmo liudson'icus Suckley. Three specimens from a tidal pond of 

 brackish water on Square Island w-ere collected July 15th. Thes.e 

 specimens are identical with those mentioned by Dr. H. R. Storer as S. 

 fontinalis, which Dr. Suckley referred to his S. hudsonicus ; but from a 

 comparison of the limited number of specimens, I am yet in doubt 

 whether the Labrador brook trout differs specifically from the S. fon 

 tinalis of New England. 



Mallotus villosus Cuv. The Capehn was very late in making its 

 appearance on the coast this season, owing to the great cjuantity of 

 ice, which likewise detained the cod. At Square Lland, the 12th of 

 July was the earliest date of their appearance in great numbers. July 

 4th, the young, about one inch in length, were seen swimming in the 

 water, their bodies very transparent, so as to enable the vertebra and 

 ribs to be distinctly seen, and provided with very plainly marked 

 heterocercal tails, in the upper and larger fork of which the vertebral 

 column terminated. 



Tii3 cap3lin spawns on pebbly shores near the water's edge,and I was 

 informed by two fishermen who had each observed the act, that during 

 the spawning of the female, two males swim close to her and press 

 her between them, being enabled by the large and prominent ridge on 

 the sides of the body to retain the female in this position between, 

 and a little below them, so that as the eggs are pressed out they are 

 fecundated by both males. This probably accounts for the much 

 greater proportion of males to the other sex, as in a boat load of these 

 fish it was often difficult to find a single female. 



According to information received from intelligent fishermen, the 

 capelin remains upon the coast the year round, but in winter retires 

 to deep water. Is it not probable that the cod has the same habit of 

 going from deep water in-shore and to elevated "banks," for the pur- 

 pose of spawning during the spring and summer ; and in the winter of 

 retiring to depths inaccessible to the fishermen ? Should the cod be 

 found to present local varieties at intervals along the Atlantic coast 

 as seems probably the case, it would be a natural inference that it did 

 not migrate for hundreds of miles northward, following the coming of 

 spring fi'om Massachusetts to Hudson's Bay. It is abundant in Massa- 

 chusetts Bay and on the coast of Maine during the same time in sum- 

 mer that it abounds on the Labrador coast and in Greenland. All the 

 facts observed by us tend to prove that the cod does not migrate exten- 

 sively, as commonly supposed. 



Clupea. The herring fishery begins In the Straits of Belle Isle 

 during the middle of August, after the cod fishery is over. The 



