THE SMELT. 185 



continue more than one season in the sea ; as they 

 have not been found to ascend the rivers twice as 

 gilses. 



The appearances of the salmon in these three states, 

 have led to the same mistakes with regard to them 

 that we have noticed in eagles. There are milts and 

 roes in the gilses, and rudiments of them in the smouts ; 

 and on this account, as well as on the differences in 

 their appearance, they have been regarded as distinct 

 species, although a different appearance before and 

 after the period of full maturity be so far from a rare 

 occurrence, that it is one of the most common in the 

 economy of nature. The salmon is not the only fish 

 about which there is this confusion and difference of 

 opinion. The smelt, (osmerus epirlanusj) which comes 

 from the sea to the estuaries of some rivers in the 

 beginning of winter, hardly ascends farther than the 

 water continues to be salt, or at least brackish, spawns 

 early in the spring, and retires to the sea in the 

 summer, has been often regarded as the fry of some 

 fish, known or unknown. The fry of the Shad, or 

 mother herring, (clupea alosa,} has often been con- 

 sidered as a distinct species. The shad is a larger fish 

 than the smelt, being as long as eighteen inches ; while 

 the other is seldom so much as twelve. But, except- 

 ing that they come into the rivers at different times of 

 the year, they are rather similar in their habits. The 

 shad leaves the sea about May, ascends a little way 

 into the fresh water, and having deposited its eggs, 

 again returns to the sea. Salmon fishers often catch 

 it in their nets ; and when " stake nets," or permanent 

 nets, were used in the lower parts of rivers, for the 



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