6 DESCRIPTION, CLASSIFICATION, AND 



some fifty years ago, when their access to salt water 

 was cut off by dams. But as the professor well says : 

 " This hypothesis is not necessary, for in the Sague- 

 nay the winninish [ouananiche] has easy, unobstructed 

 access to the sea. The salmon of Lake Ontario and 

 its tributaries are not thought to enter salt water, and 

 there are similar instances of landlocking in the lakes 

 of northern Sweden." The same authority also makes 

 mention of the well-known case of the Stormontfield 

 Ponds in England, where salmon have thriven for 

 years in the lakes in which they have been confined. 

 And I have the best authority for the statement that 

 there were so-called landlocked salmon in Maine be- 

 fore the construction of dams in the streams which 

 led from their fresh-water habitat to the sea; and, 

 further, that even at the present time there is no 

 obstruction to their passage to salt water. In proof 

 of this statement it is only necessary that I should 

 quote the following extract from a letter, dated May 

 25, 1894, addressed to Mr. A. Nelson Cheney by Mr. 

 Charles G. Atkins, who has charge of the salmon 

 hatcheries of Maine : 



"... In your letter of the 6th you ask about the 

 obstructions to the passage of the landlocked salmon 

 of Maine to and from the sea in recent and former 

 times. Before man's interference, the way was open 

 to all the landlocked salmon of Maine to go to sea and 

 to return to their native streams and the lakes they 

 frequented. In recent times, and indeed at present, 

 the way is still open for them to go to sea, but their 

 return has been hindered by dams on every river where 

 they are naturally found. In each case I think it well 



