THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. vil 
in the regions west of the Gulf is usually accompanied by blinding 
snow and involves the destruction of man and beast; and on the sea- 
coast millions of fish of all kinds frequenting the shallower waters are 
killed. Not unfrequently these are blown ashore in great heaps, pois- 
oning the atmosphere and sometimes constituting by their decomposi- 
tion the alleged cause of the yellow fever and other serious diseases. 
The most plausible explanation of the phenomena of the occurrence 
of fossil fishes in enormous numbers is suggested by Dr. A. Leith Ad- 
ams, of the Brtish army,* as the result of personal observation in 
New Brunswick. The occurrence took place at a small creek, called 
Anderson’s Cove, a short distance to the east of the Magaguadavic 
River, which empties into the northwestern part of Passamaquoddy 
Bay, not very far from the town of Saint Andrews and from Saint 
Stephen. This cove is a lagoon of about 1,300 feet in circumference, 
into which a small stream enters and communicates with the sea, at 
high tide only, by a narrow channel. But in the vehement rush of the 
Bay of Fundy tides the water enters this lagoon with great force and 
stirs up the mud into a paste, which runs off slowly, at low tide. The 
incoming stream continually brings down a fresh supply of mud and 
slime. 
On the 24th of September, 1867, a very heavy gale from the west 
blew directly into Anderson’s Cove, disturbing the mud to an unusual 
degree. Thesame storm brought into the cove immense numbers of 
young herring, about six inches in length, with a few other fish, as 
mackerel and flounders. These, after the storm, were found washed up 
on the beach in great numbers, while the mud, which by this time had 
settled, was completely filled with them. ‘he bottom of the lagoon 
was covered with a layer several feet in depth, the total amount of de- 
struction being almost fearful to contemplate. 
There is no reason to doubt that similar conditions, in earlier times, 
have given rise to some of the fossil deposits referred to. 
Another of the natural causes of the destruction of fish is found in 
the numbers of certain fishes which are stranded when seeking the shal- 
low waters for the purpose of depositing theirspawn. Of these the cape- 
lin of Newfoundland and Gulf of Saint Lawrence is’a notable instance, 
as it comes in close to the edge of the water in enormous numbers to 
deposit its eggs. Here the pressure of the continually succeeding 
schools is such as to foree the fish in a body on the beach, this action 
being sometimes aided by high winds or heavy waves. Windrows of the 
fish are to be found on the beach, which are in large part carried away 
- and used as manure on the fields. Many of these, of course, would 
_ become imbedded in the sand and mud, and constitute material for the 
investigation of the future geologist. It is in all probability to these 
circumstances that we owe the occurrence of the capelin as a Tertiary 



_ *Field and Forest Rambles, or Notes and Observations in the Natural History of 
Eastern Canada. London. Henry §. King, 1873. p. 264. 
