FISHES OF VERMONT. 593 



which covered, hy estimation, about 1,000 acres, where the trees were thick and. the 

 soil had never been cultivated. In two or three years the iish were multiplied in the 

 pond to an incredible number. At the upper end, where the brook fell in, the fish 

 were to be seen in the spring running over one another, so embarrassed by their own 

 numbers as to be unable to escape froni any attempt made to take them. They were 

 taken by the hands at pleasure, and swine caught them without difficulty. With a 

 small net the fishermen would take half a bushel at a draft and repeat their labors 

 with the same success. Carts were loaded with them in as short a time as people 

 could gather them up when thrown upon the banks, and it was customary to sell 

 them in the fishing season for a shilling a bushel. While they thus increased in 

 numbers they also became more than double their former size. This great increase of 

 fishes is supposed to have been occasioned by the increased means of subsistence in 

 consequence of carrying the water over a large tract of rich and uncultivated land.'* 



"The trout is usually taken with the hook, and the bait universally used is the red 

 earthworm, everywhere known by the name of angleworm. Fishing for trout is a 

 favorite and common amusement, and parties frequently go 15 or 20 miles for the 

 sake of indulging in it." 



Mr. Titcomb is very properly of the belief that the majority of the fish referred to 

 by Williams were suckers rather than trout. He says: 



"While it is the trout for which Vermont is famous aud it is a fact that they 

 increase rapidly and grow to an astonishing size in a short period, when in a stream 

 or poud which has been raised or flowed over new ground, I doubt very much the 

 story about the poud in Tinmouth, referred to by Thompson. I think the fish he 

 describes were suckers. The same wonderful catch of suckers can be made to-day." 



Family ARGENTINIDiE. The Smelts. 



34. Osmerus mordax (Mitchill). Smelt; Ice-fish. 



The smelt is said to be an abundant fish in Lakes Champlain and Memphremagog. 

 At the time of our visit to those lakes these fish were in deep water and would not 

 readily take a hook, so no specimens were obtained then. In tho fall they come out 

 into shallow water, when they can be caught. During the winter they bite freely 

 and can be taken through tho ice. They can be taken with hook and line, but are 

 also sometimes seined. They are said to make an excellent bait for longe. Through 

 the kindness of Hon. L. D. Miles we received on November 23, 1894, twenty-one fine 

 specimens of smelt taken in Lake Memphremagog. These present tho following 

 measurements: 



Head 4; depth 6; eye 4J-; maxillary reaching posterior margin of eye; D. 10; 

 A. 15; length in inches, 6f; 6|; 7; 7; 7; 7; 7i; 6$; 71; 7; ; ; 6£; <i. ! . ; 6f; 6f; 6f; 6|; 

 7i; 7i; 6|; 7; 7f. Weights in grams (1 ounce equals 28.35 grams) : 28, 29, 32, 29, 32, 

 29, 32, 27, 33, 38, 27, 27, 27, 30, 31, 29, 35, 31, 29, 32, 34. The total weight was 641 

 grams, or a little less than 2.1 pounds. 



According to Mr. Titcomb, " Smelt do not come to the surface in our fresh-water 

 lakes until late in winter or early spring. They are then taken through the ice with 

 hook and hue. No one appears to know whether they enter our streams to spawn 

 or spawn in the lakes, and I have never been able to settle this question, but 

 presume they enter and leave the streams before the ice is out." 



The United States Fish Commission has received a number of unusually large 

 smelt through the kindness of Mr. S. F. Lane, of Port Henry, N. Y. These fish 

 were taken by hook and line in Lake Champlain March 7, in 15 to 70 feet of 

 water, and are locally known as ice-fish. The largest example measured 12$ inches 

 in total length and weighed 214 grams, or nearly one-half pound. 



Williams's History of Vermont, vol. 1, page 149. 



F , R . 94 38 



