ABUNDANCE OF FISH ON NEW ENGLAND COAST. 1G7 



larger and smaller English sliads — the allis and twait, (iv, 117.) 

 Perhaps I have wasted too many words and too mnch pai)er on this 

 name, bnt I am tired of the reappearance every now and then of Dr. 

 Smith's spurious Indian •' aloqfV 



"' En deeembre, vu, pour parler plus juste, pendant les deux dernieres 

 lunes, un poisson appelle Foiiciiiio vient frayer sur les glaces, et ou en 

 prend autant qu'on veut ; je crois que c'est une espece de Ghien de 

 Mer:'—{Tom. I, p. 121.) 



''Vers la fin de mars, les poissons commencent a frayer, et entrent 

 dans les rivieres en si grande quantite, qu'on ne peut le croire, quaud on 

 ne I'a point vu. Le premier qui paroit est VUplan, lequel est trois fois 

 plus grand en ce pays-lii, qu'en Europe. A la fin d'Avril le Hareng 

 donne," etc. — (Ibid.) 



Charlevoix, Histoire generate de la Nouv. France, (Paris, 1744,^ bor- 

 rows this account of the fishes of Acadie from Father Biard's Relation 

 de la Nouv. France, 1011-13. Biard writes : 



"En deeembre (admirable providence de Dieu) vient un poisson 

 appelle d'eux Ponamo, qui fraye sous la glace, (p. 10.) Sur la my-mars, 

 le ]ioisson commence a frayer et a monter de la mer en haut contre cer- 

 tains ruisseiiux, souvent eu si grande abondance, que tout en fourmille. 



Entre ces poissons, VEsplan est le i)remier. Get esplan est deux 



ou trois fois plus grand que I'est le nostre de riviere." (P. 10.) 



You will observe that Charlevoix, by mistranscription, makes the 

 Ponamo spawn " snr les glaces" instead of "sows la glace," and con- 

 founds it with some species of " cMen de mer,''- and, oddly enough, Dr. 

 J. G. Shea, in his new translation of Charlevoix, mistranslates " chien 

 de mer " by " seal,''"' an error to be noted in his errata. 



The Ponamo is the Tom-cod or Frost-fish (M. tomcodus, Mitch.,) of 

 which the modern Micinac name is Boonamoo. It is not confounded by 

 Biard or Charlevoix with the other "frost-fish," the Smelt, (E|)erlau.) 



The name Ponamo means " winter tisli," or, more exactly, "fish talvcn 

 in the winter." 



Biard's relation will be found in the reprinted "Relations des Jesuites," 

 (Quebec, 1858,) vol. 1, to be found in the Congressional Library. 



The notices of fishes of New England in Wood's " New England's 

 Prospect," (London, 1034, and reprinted, Boston, 1805, by the •' Prince 

 Society,") you have probably noticed ; and, of course, Josselyn's list of 

 New England fish, iu his "Account of Two Voyages to New England," 

 (London, 1075.) as well as in his "New England Rarities,'' (1072.) In 

 the former ^rork (pp. 112, 113) he describes the " Frost fish," "a little 

 bigger than a Gudgeon," &c. ; but in his list (p. 89) includes the "Smelt" 

 by name. 



Captain John Smith, in "The Description of New England," 1010, 

 (reprinted, Boston, 1805,) gives a short list of the fishes of New Eng- 

 land, (p. 48,) which includes "Cole, Cusk, or small Ling, Mullet, Pinaclcs, 

 [very plenty,] Gunners,''' &c. 



"Pinak" is, I suppose, the old English "Pinck" or "Pink," meaning 

 any "small" or "delicate" fish, and still in use as a name for the min- 

 now. {Dutch pincTt, 2>inJcyf the little finger.) "Cunner,"in the seven- 

 teenth century, belonged to the Golden Wrasse, {Crenilahrus Donovani, 

 Cuv. and Val., Lahrus eornuhius, Don.,) rather than to the other "Gilt 

 Head," the Spams aurata, of Linn. — Chrysophrys aurata, Cuv. and Yar- 

 rell. The former was common, the latter rare, ou the southern coast of 

 England; and I have no doubt that Smith and Josselyn both trans- 

 ferred the name of " Conner" (see Yarrell, ii, 498) from the Wrasse, not 

 from the GiWiead proper. But it is very likely that the Dutch name of 



