CULTURE OF THE SHAD. 143 



finer than the early run. This is likely erroneous, as the 

 late run proceed at once to their spawning-grounds, not 

 lingering as the great body do, but travelling hundreds of 

 miles in a few days. Fresh run shad have been taken at 

 the head of tide on the Susquehanna, with small salt-water 

 fishes in their stomachs so perfect that their species could 

 be identified. I mention this fact as an evidence of the 

 rapidity with which shad sometimes travel. After they 

 enter fresh water, it is generally believed that they do not 

 feed, as they are invariably found with empty stomachs. 

 It is true that a shad will rise at an artificial fly occasion- 

 ally, or take a minnow, as I know from experience, but on 

 opening them, these, as well as other anadromous fishes, are 

 found without food. Amongst these I instance the herring, 

 the alewife, the salmon, and Canadian sea trout. It is 

 reasonable to suppose that shad are omnivorous, and that 

 some of the algae which are gelatinous and highly nutritive, 

 contribute to their rapid growth. 



Shad, at one time, entered every river on our coast which 

 furnished the requisite spawning-beds, and ascended until 

 some barrier opposed their course j every tributary was 

 crowded with them. Civilization, and its attendant enter- 

 prise, prosecuted without provision for the passage of the 

 fish to and from their spawning-grounds, have driven them 

 entirely from some rivers, and lessened their numbers so 

 materially in others, that shad are now considered rather a 

 luxury, than one of the chief staples of life, in their season. 

 In view of this alarming decrease, many of the States have 

 appointed Commissioners of Fisheries, and are constructing 



