COLLECTION OF EGGS OF SCHOODIC SALMON. 911 



The term '' land-locked salmon" by which these fish are generally 

 known seems to imply that they are or have been at some time shut 

 out from communication with the sea and thus forced to pass all 

 their lives in fresh-water. There is, indeed, a very prevalent theory 

 that the fresh- water and sea-going salmon were originally identical, and 

 that the distinguishing characteristics of the fresh-water species are the 

 result of a forced or voluntary residence in fresh water. However this 

 may be, there is no evidence that the supposed change of habits — the 

 abandonment of the seaward migrations — came about in any such way 

 as the name " land-locked " implies. A natural impediment sufficient 

 to shut in the salmon and prevent their reaching the sea may perhaps 

 have occurred by some convulsion of nature during a former geological 

 age, but not in the present. The artificial obstructions that man has 

 erected, though sufficient to prevent fish ascending, have never consti- 

 tuted any serious obstacle to their descent. The alleged original discov- 

 ery of the species in some of the localities in recent times does not rest 

 on sufficient evidence. 



2. — DISTEIBUTIGN AND HABITS OF SCHOODIC SALMON. 



The operations detailed below had to do with the Schoodic variety, 

 best designated as the "Schoodic salmon," inhabiting the lake.s of the 

 Saint Croix Eiver. 



In proportion to its size, the Saint Croix has a more extensive lake 

 system than any other river on the Atlantic coast of the United States 

 (the Saint Lawrence not included in the comparison). The most of the 

 water passes through successive lakes, which serve as vast basins for 

 the deposit of sediment, and is thereby purified to a remarkable degree. 



The range of the Schoodic salmon was formerly through all parts of 

 the main Saint Croix from tide-water upward. Once it was often caught 

 at Salmon Falls, less than a mile above the flow of the tide, and various 

 other places are pointed out on the lower part of the river where the 

 sportsman of thirty or forty years ago could always find them at the 

 proper season. It is only a few years since they were abundant at 

 Piinceton, the outlet of the western chain of lakes, and at Vanceborough, 

 the outlet of the eastern chain. Latterly it has almost or quite disap- 

 peared from the main river, and is scarce at Princeton and at all points 

 on the east branch. In many of the lesser lakes and streams of the re- 

 gion it has also become quite scarce within a few years. It is still found, 

 however, in Big Lake occasionally, in West Musquash Stream and 

 Lake, in Grand Lake and Stream, in Pocumpus Lake, in Sysladobsis* 

 Lake and Stream, Sysladobsissis Lake (or Upper Sysladobsis), and the 

 stream bearing the same name ; also in Junior Lake and Stream, Scrag- 

 gly Lake, and Pleasant Lake. All these waters are tributary to the 



* The aboriginal name is pronounced Sich'-la-dob'-sis, the ch having a guttural sound 

 as in German. The whites commonly shorten it to " Dobsis " or " Dobsy." Sysladobsis- 

 sis means Little Sysladobsis. 



