102 THE SCHOODICS. 



published his opinion that they are a distinct species. He 

 writes : 



" They are called ' Land-locked salmon/ But from the po- 

 sition and general features of this extensive chain of lakes, I 

 cannot understand the possibility of the fish ever having 

 been land-locked, which they certainly are not at present. 

 On the supposition that they are degenerated salmon, they 

 must have had, previous to their becoming degenerated, free 

 access to and from the sea, or else there could have been no 

 salmon to become land-locked. The head of water occasioned 

 by shutting the gates of the dam for only twenty-four hours 

 [there is a dam at the outlet of Grand Lake and at Prince- 

 ton, and others below], shows that some outlet must always 

 have existed. Were this outlet to become stopped by any 

 sudden change in the level of the country, through volcanic 

 ov aqueous agency, so immense a body of water, augmented 

 by the melting snows of winter and the copious rains of 

 summer, which pour into it from the hills on every side, 

 would soon have found another ; and it is hard to conceive 

 that so active a fish as a salmon could ever have been land- 

 locked in this chain of lakes. The instinct of the salmon to 

 reach salt-water is so strong that it is difficult to believe that 

 the fish would ever entirely lose it ; while it is not yet settled 

 beyond a doubt that the salmon will live and propagate if 

 deprived of periodical visits to the sea. The land-locked sal- 

 mon of Sweden are now believed to be distinct from the 

 Salmo solar. 



" That some fish occasionally stray down the stream, and 

 even get below the dams, is natural enough ; but it by no 

 means favors the idea that the instinct of the fish urges it to 

 seek the sea. Were this the case, the lakes and streams 

 would soon be deserted ; for, while there is no obstacle to 

 their descent, their return is impossible in consequence of 

 the dams. As we know that the St. Croix throughout its 

 whole length was a fine salmon stream previous to the erec- 

 tion of the dams at Milltown, we should have to admit that 



