32 AMERICAN FISHERIES SOCIETY 



As you will all recollect, some twenty years ago or rather more, 

 in Massachusetts the smelt fishery had greatly declined. It was 

 supposed to be due to the capture of tlie fish by means of nets 

 stretched entirely across the brooks, which prevented the fish 

 from ascending the stream. The law to which Mr. Mather has 

 referred was passed on the recommendation of the Fishery Com- 

 missioners of Massachusetts. In two or three years the catch of 

 fish was very greatly improved, so much so, that the bays and 

 streams which had been nearly depopulated, once more became 

 filled with valuable fish. Ever since then, we have had a pretty 

 good supply of smelt in our State. I was very much interested 

 in the reference of Mr. Mather to Dr. J. C. Smith, as being the 

 most ignorant man that had ever written about fish. It illus" 

 trates the theory that in order to succeed one should always be 

 profoundly ignorant of the subject. He took up the matter of 

 naming American fishes, and for this purpose he used the Latin 

 names that corresponded to European fishes, which bore the 

 same English names as did American fishes. In this way he 

 often stumbled on the right nomenclature. At that time it was 

 supposed that the same species of fish were not to be found on 

 the two sides of the Atlantic. Since then, however, many of 

 these species have been proved to be identical, so that Dr. Smith 

 was one of the first persons accidentally to recognize a promi- 

 nent scientific fact which has only been attained by years of 

 hard study. 



THE PORPOISE FISHERY OF CAPE HATTERAS. 



BY FREDERICK W. TRUE. 



There is a legend among the Indians of Brazil that when the 

 shades of evening are falling on the Amazon, the dolphin (called 

 inia) becomes transformed from its peculiar fish-like form, and 

 assumes that of a lovely maiden. Passing through the streets 

 of the village, her fair hair floating on the breeze, the youths are 



