128 BRITISH FISH AND FISHERIES. 



May, its breeding time being in March. 

 Formerly the smelt advanced up the Thames 

 as far as Hammersmith, but of late years 

 various causes have combined to deter the 

 advance of the shoals which enter the Nore 

 and the Medway, where the fishing is carried 

 on from the 28th of August to Good Friday. 

 Large quantities of smelts are taken on the 

 Lincolnshire coast ; in the Tees and Humber, 

 in the Frith of Forth, in the Sol way Frith, and 

 also in the Dee and Mersey. 



The smelt, as we have said, breeds 'in the 

 fresh water, and resides there throughout the 

 greater portion of the year ; and as experi- 

 ments have proved, it will not only live but 

 thrive in fresh water pounds, or sheets of 

 water, into which it has been introduced, and 

 which have no communication with the sea, 

 so that it may be easily converted into a lake 

 fish, without any deterioration of quality. Con- 

 sidering the demand in the markets for this 

 fish, it is somewhat surprising that so little 

 attention has been paid to this circumstance. 



The ordinary length of the smelt does not 

 exceed six or seven inches ; we have seen some 

 measuring nine, and even ten ; we believe that, 

 occasionally, still larger specimens occur. The 

 smelt is too well-known to need description, and 



