178 SALMONID.E. 



Medway to tlie Tay, and on the western, in the Solway, and so 

 far south only as the Mersey and the Dee. 



A specific description of this well-known little fish would be 

 useless, as I am unable to furnish data of comparison between 

 the Smelt of the Raritan and Passaic Rivers in New Jersey and 

 the Osmerus Viridescens. 



Before proceeding farther, I will merely observe that I am 

 well assured that it is generally believed that diflerent species 

 of fish cannot be taken with the hook, merely for the reason 

 that no one has ever attempted so to take them ; at least, with 

 any bait at which there was the slightest possibility of their 

 rising. 



I know that the Shad and the Herring, contrary to all 

 received opinion, can be taken with the fly ; and I have had 

 great sport myself with the latter fish, ofl" the pier of Fort 

 Diamond in the New York Narrows, catching them with a 

 gaudy peacock-fly, as fast as I could throw it in and pull 

 them out. 



It would by no means surprise me to find that, during the 

 time when Smelt run up our streams, they may be taken freely, 

 either with a very small bright fly, or with morsels of shrimp or 

 pellets of their own roe, baited upon a number-twelve Limerick 

 Trout-hook, and thrown like a fly, on the surface. Should such 

 prove to be the case, they would aff'ord very pretty light fishing 

 at a time when there is no other sport for the angler. 



