594 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



In a recent number of Forest and Stream Mr. A. N. Cheney has the following very 

 interesting account of this species as an inhabitant of Lake Champlain: 



"More than twenty years ago I first heard of the 'ice-fish' of Lake Champlain, 

 and when I saw them I found them to bo the common smelt; but from that time to 

 this the identity of the fish has been questioned at recurring intervals. Last year 

 when I saw smelts being taken at Port Henry over 1 foot long and weighing one-half 

 pound each, and was told that even larger ones were caught through the ice at Port 

 Henry and Westport, I was obliged to admit that I had never seen smelts of such great 

 size; nevertheless that is what they were. Last week I was at Port Henry and the 

 identityof the 'ice-fish' was once again discussed, with the added information that 

 the fish were now sent quite regularly to New York City, where they were pronounced 

 to be different from the smelt. I had some packed to bring home with me, and 

 asked to have several of the very large ones put in the box to have the matter of 

 species set at rest. The man who furnished the fish told me that after Mr. Cobb's 

 visit to the lake the United States Fish Commission had sent for specimens to 

 determine just what 'ice-fish' really were, and that specimens had been forwarded 

 to Dr. Hugh M. Smith. I asked Dr. Smith about them and he writes me: 



'The specimens of "ice-fish ''recently sent tons from Lake Champlain were the salt- 

 water smelt ( Osmerus mordax). They Avere fine examples, the largest being more than 

 1 foot in length and weighing one-half pound. The females were filled with ripe 

 spawn. I have never seen such fine smelts on the New England coast, although they 

 are sometimes taken in Maine and Massachusetts fully as large as those under con- 

 sideration. As you know, this species is landlocked in some of the Maine lakes, and 

 Professor Evermann took specimens in Lake Memphremagog; the fish in the latter 

 lake, however, are quite small. In your opinion do the Lake Champlaiu smelts 

 come up the St. Lawrence River each year for the purpose of spawning, or are they 

 permanent residents of the lake?' 



"I believe that smelts are not permanent residents of Lake Champlain, as they are 

 caught only through the ice in February and March, and a search for them by the 

 anglers in the summer and fall months has proved fruitless. In New Hampshire, 

 where the smelt is landlocked, I have caught them in June, July, and August, and 

 if they remained in Lake Champlain permanently they would be found by those who 

 have persistently sought them. Another reason for thinking that they come from 

 the St. Lawrence only to spawn, for it will be noticed that they are caught in the 

 lake just before the spawning season, is that they have two runs of smelt in that 

 river, one of small fish and one of large fish, such as are mentioned by Dr. Smith, 

 the large fish of the lake answering to those known to run up the river. The land- 

 locked smelt that I have caught in New Hampshire are much more slender, length for 

 length, than the Champlain fish, showing that the latter are accustomed to rich pastur- 

 age probably not found in the lake. In Lake Champlain the large and small smelts 

 are caught together, showing that the schools must mingle after they reach the lake, 

 and they mingle in more than one way, for large smelts have been caught with small 

 smelts inside of them, showing that the big fellows feed on their small brethren. 

 One big smelt has been convicted of eating seven small ones at a single meal. This 

 I learned only a few days ago.'' 



The views expressed by Mr. Cheney do not meet the approval of all the anglers 

 or persons who have observed the fishes of Lake Champlain. In another issue of 

 Forest and Stream Mr. Bainbridge Bishop, of New Russia, N. Y., takes issue with 

 Mr. Cheney upon the question as to whether the smelt come up regularly from the 

 sea. We make the following extract from Mr. Bishop's interesting letter: 



"As a rule Lake Champlain smelt and herring do not migrate to salt water, but at 

 the approach of summer retire to the deepest part of the lake, where they find 2C0 

 to 400 feet of water. Here they stay at the bottom most of the time. When the 

 broad lake freezes over they work up in shoaler water, where the fishermen take 

 them through the ice. They are caught later in the winter at Port Henry, it being 

 farther away from the deeper part of the lake. I have seen smelt in the lake every 

 month in the year, and have caught them in most of the summer and fall months. 

 While trolling off Cedar Beach in very deep water, with a lake-trout rig, I caught a 



