74 Proceedings Port. Soc. Nat. Hist. 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE FRESH- 
WATER FISHES IN MAINE. 
Peculiarities of the Natural Distribution of the Species of Fresh-water 
Fishes of Maine. 
In a study of the problem of geographical distribution of 
the species of fishes occurring in Maine, more than the State 
should be taken into consideration. 
The probable eastern limit of most of the species of fresh- 
water fishes occurring in Maine is the sea bounding New 
Brunswick and Nova Scotia. How closely related this region 
is to the St. Lawrence is not definitely known, and how 
much farther north some of them extend cannot be known 
until the region north of the St. Lawrence is studied. The 
Appalachian Mountains on the west form a more or less 
definite line of demarkation. There are some species immedi- 
ately west of these mountains that are not found east of them, 
and a very few east have not been recorded from the west 
side. There are also some very wide gaps in the distribu- 
tion of some species which future investigation may more or 
less completely fill, and there are some of very extensive dis- 
tribution as well as some apparently more or less isolated 
occurrences. 
In general it may be said that the characteristic fishes are 
boreal, but the State is to some extent in a transition area, 
where northern and southern forms more or less overlap; yet 
not wholly in it but at one end as it were. 
From the accompanying table, it may be seen that the 
majority of Maine species have a wide range of distribution. 
