418 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. . 



ber of shad liatclied, according to an estimate made by Mr. Commissioner 

 Stanley, and coincided with by his assistant, Mr. Brown, was 100,000. 

 The United States commissioner. Professor Baird, afterward very oppor- 

 tunely supplied us with 100,000 shad-fry from Hadley Falls, on the Con- 

 necticut, which were planted in the Penobscot at Mattawamkeag. The 

 l)0ssibility of obtaining shad-spawn from Massachusetts so much later 

 in the season than with us, would seem to indicate that the habits of 

 the shad are the reverse of the salmon. The earliest spawning of the 

 salmon is at the head-waters of the river, the latest run of fish always 

 spawning lower down the river. Our inference here may not be cor- 

 rectly deduced, as our experiments were at the mouth of the Kennebec, 

 where the fish are probably turned back from their native spawning- 

 grounds by the Sprague's Dam at Augusta, and cannot follow out their 

 instincts. The shad at Topsham, also, were found all spawned. These 

 later fish never could have ascended much higher than Brunswick, 

 owing to the natural obstructions in the river. 



E. M. STILWELL. 



