FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. T/ 



winter, and others which bury themselves in the mud. The 

 tautog, or bhackfish, practically hibernates. I do not think it 

 takes a particle of food during the winter. Flounders go into 

 the mud and so does the eel, which latter buries all 

 excepting its head. All the eels that are taken there in the 

 winter are speared, the fishermen sounding in the mud with 

 their spears. In the middle of April they come out and are 

 taken in eel pots. The tom-cod and some other fishes are active 

 all winter. It always seemed to me that some fishes might be 

 more susceptible to the influences of temperature than others. 

 In lakes north of the fortieth parallel we know that the black 

 bass does not feed much during the winter. Occasionally a 

 specimen is taken w^ith hook and line. Dr. Henshall's theory 

 concerning hibernation is certainly a new one to me, viz : that 

 the question is one of food and not of temperature, and is one, I 

 think, which will bear considerable examination before it be 

 accepted as the correct solution. 



PROTECTING AND HATCHING THE SMELT. 



BY FRED MATHER. 



I wnll preface this paper, gentlemen, by saying that my paper 

 contains some statements which are so at variance with all my 

 former experiences that I almost hesitate to read what I have 

 written. 



The smelt, Osmerus mordax (Mitch.) Gill, is not common on 

 Long Island, and but few streams contain it. In the spring of 

 1884, I attempted to get eggs from a stream at Locust Valley, 

 on the north side of the island, in Queens county. The fish run 

 up the streams at night to spawn, and on this one I spent one 

 night. There were about twenty men with lights at different 

 points wnthin half a mile using what they called "grab-alls" or 

 "snatchers." These were variously shaped contrivances, some 

 round, some square, and others triangular, but averaging about 



