I 



American h'is/icrics Society. 121 



This spring, 1900, 1 renewed the hunt for ripe sturgeon 

 eggs, this time, liowevcr. not in the open waters of Lake Cham- 

 plain but in the Missisquoi River, a tributary which empties into 

 the lake in the extreme northwestern corner of X'erniont. That 

 sturgeon went up this river in the spring just after the run of 

 pike was over, was well known, but whether they ascended the 

 river to spawn, or to feed on the vast cjuantities of pike eggs and 

 sucker eggs that had been deposited up toward Swanton dam, 

 was not so definitely settled. 



There being no funds of the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion to spare this year, for the purpose, no systematic attempt 

 could be made to find ripe sturgeon, but through the obliging- 

 ness of the river fishermen, and the help of Air. Myron Green, 

 we were enabled by persevering elYort to score some successes 

 and to make a few valuable discoveries. 



While the sturgeon were running, there were two gangs of 

 sturgeon fishermen on the river besides those fishing at Swanton 

 dam. We prevailed on these fishermen — I do not know how, 

 and it is a surprise to me yet, for they never had any pay for it — 

 to hold the fish they caught until we could examine them, and 

 also to keep in confinement any that we thought were nearly 

 ripe. In this way we obtained an opportunity to examine over 

 a hundred sturgeon. 



Without going into tedious details more than is necessary, 

 I will state as simply as possible the results of quv observations, 

 and they are as follows : 



( I ) The sturgeon do go up the Alissisquoi River to shazeii. 

 This was proved by the fact that the fish going up the river, all 

 had eggs in them of about tlir same degree of ripeness. Some 

 had eggs that were fully ripe, while all that were caught going 

 down the river had spawnerl out. 



(2) The sturgeon spawn on the rapids below Swanton 

 <lam, for they were caught here fully ripe. Mr. Myron Green, 

 who is a very careful and correct observer, thinks that they lie 

 in the deep water lielow the rapids until they are ready to deposit 

 their eggs, and then ascend to the rapids to spawn. This corre- 



