14 DESCRIPTION, CLASSIFICATION, AND 



it is still (1892) uncertain whether the gaspereau or 

 ale wife (Clupea pseudoharengus or vernalis), which ap- 

 pears abundantly every spring towards the end of 

 April in Lake Ontario, and disappears just as suddenly 

 in September or October, goes down to the ocean in 

 the fall and returns thence in the spring, or whether it 

 merely retires to the deep waters of the lake ; though 

 it was introduced there as long ago as 1873, according 

 to Dr. Bean, and then, it is said, accidentally, when 

 the intention was to plant shad. The general impres- 

 sion, however, among the fishermen is that the ale- 

 wives are permanent inhabitants of the lake ; though 

 this, if correct, is from choice rather than necessity, 

 there being no more obstruction to their descent to 

 the sea than there is to that of the ouananiche from 

 Lake St. John. 



A similar scientific uncertainty existed as to the 

 migrations of the salmon of Lake Ontario, now prac- 

 tically a fish of the past, but of exceeding abundance 

 from thirty to forty years ago. The late Professor 

 Baird, speaking at a conference of fish commissioners 

 held in New York City in 1 872, stated that it had not 

 been determined whether the Ontario salmon went to 

 the ocean and returned to the lake again each year ; 

 and subsequent to the date of the statement the 

 decrease of the species in that water followed so 

 rapidly that there have been few opportunities for 

 observation. But just as in the case of the alewife, 

 the bulk of the evidence favors the belief that the 

 Lake Ontario salmon, instead of returning to the sea 

 subsequent to spawning, after the manner of the fish 

 in the coastal streams, simply retired to the deeper 



