590 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



The above extracts concerning the appearance of the Alewife in the Saint Lawrence tend to 

 prove that, at least until a very recent period, it has been almost unknown in the lower waters of 

 that river. 



Specimens of the Alewife, obtained by Prof. S. F. Baird, from Croton River, Sing Sing, New 

 York, are in the collections of the United States National Museum. 



Prof. Hamilton L. Smith, Geneva, New York, furnishes the following information, obtained 

 from an old angler, concerning the appearance of Ale wives in the vicinity of Seneca Lake: "Their 

 first appearance in the neighborhood of Seneca Lake was in the dam below the rapids at Waterloo, 

 near Geneva, in June, 1868. In the spring of 1869 the surface of the water in the lake here was 

 covered with them." The species was known in Cayuga Lake as early as 1868. 

 According to Mr. E. Tyler, of Henderson, New York, it was first noticed in Lake Ontario in June, 

 1873, when large quantities were taken in pounds and trap-nets. 



Mr. W. Ainsworth, of Cape Vincent, New York, wrote on August 13, 1878: "This fish (the 

 Alewife) first appeared in Lake Ontario and the river Saint Lawrence at Cape Vincent, in 1873, in 

 large quantities." 



THE ORIGIN OF THE ALEWIFE IN LAKE ONTARIO AND THE NEW YORK LAKES. As already 



stated, there seems to be no reasonable doubt that the Branch Alewife was introduced into Lake 

 Ontario with Shad, prior to whose introduction no evidence of its occurrence in that lake appears. 

 It is an undecided point whether Alewives go down the Saint Lawrence to the ocean in the fall 

 and return in the spring, as they do upon the Atlantic slope, or whether they spend the winter in 

 the deeper waters of the lake. We have not the specimens at hand to enable us to establish the 

 facts concerning the migrations of this species through the Saint Lawrence. It is uotewonhy, 

 however, that when they appear in the waters which they frequent, they come in immense schools, 

 and at the time of, or a short time prior to, their spawning season. The first schools that appear 

 seem to consist of large, adult fish. It may be that the schools descend the Saint Lawrence in the 

 fall and ascend in spring. However this may be, we are justified in believing that Alewives were 

 artificially introduced into Lake Ontario; and this is a more reasonable view of the case than to 

 admit a total change in their habits, such as would be involved by their sudden departure from 

 their accustomed waters into new and untried regions. 



As to their presence in Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, New York, we have grounds for believing 

 that they have, of their own accord, penetrated thus far into the interior of New York State. Mr. 

 Fred. Mather writes that he has seen Alewives go up the canal locks at West Troy, and Prof. H. 

 L. Smith, of Geneva, who first noticed them in the neighborhood of Seneca Lake in June, 1868, 

 states that the canal was opened about that time, and thinks that they might have come into the 

 New York lakes from the Chesapeake or Delaware Bays through Elmira and Painted Post. 



We learn from Prof. Hamilton L. Smith that Alewives obtained near Geneva, New York, in 

 June, 1868, were eight to nine inches long. He also sent to the National Museum specimens from 

 Seneca Lake, four of which were, respectively, three and two-fifths, four and four-fifths, four and 

 nine irn! hx and six and one-fifth inches in length. One specimen, forwarded by Prof. D. S. 

 Jordan from Cayuga Lake, measured five and three-tenths inches. Two spent females, received 

 from Horton Brothers & Ainsworth, and obtained by them in Lake Ontario, ranged from eight to 

 nine and a half indies in length. Nearly all the specimens received from the interior lakes of New 

 York are small considerably smaller than those from Lake Ontario, and present a somewhat 

 starved appi-arancc. This characteristic was specially noticeable in the individuals which were 

 found dead in immense numbers. The specimens from Lake Ontario are, on an average, equal in 

 length to those which enter streams on the Atlantic coast. Mr. Ainsworth says that those cap- 



