592 NATURAL HISTORY OP AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



Alewives left us, as usual, about August 10, and the Shad also ; at least none have been caught 

 since." 



In a letter dated June 14, 1879, he says: "Since about August 25 [1878] no Alewives were 

 seen in these waters until the first of May last [1879]. . . . This spring [1879] I made arrange- 

 ments with the owner of the seines (six miles south of Henderson) to send me the first ones taken, 

 and he brought me five on May 14. ... I drove over next day, but not one could be found in 

 the net; but in a short time there was an abundance here, but all of one size. The first that came 

 appeared to be large. ... In answer to your question as to the route by which they come, I 

 can only reply that the first seen of them was the last of April [1879] ; the trout taken at the 

 mouth of Saint Lawrence were filled with them. From the best information obtainable, they come 

 here from the ocean with the Shad, and return with them in the fall to the same place." 



Mr. W. Ainsworth, whom we have frequently quoted, writes that the spawning season for the 

 Alewife in Lake Ontario is in June. 



Mr. N. H. Lytle, of Ogdensburg, New York, wrote, September 26, 1879, concerning the Ale- 

 wife as follows: "In June, 1878, a fisherman came into the 'Journal' office with several of these 

 fish. He was not able to give them a name. I had frequently seen Shad on the butchers' stalls, 

 and was of the opinion that they also were Shad. ... I opened the fish and found them full 

 of eggs and almost ready to spawn. A few days later they came up the Oswegatchie River in 

 thousands as far as the dam, and many were caught by the boys. They were then from seven to 

 ten inches in length. . . . This year they made their appearance again in the latter part of 

 June, and came up the Oswegatchie River. They were noticed at many points on the Saint Law- 

 rence and in Lake Ontario. Steamers passing up and down the river reported seeing them in 

 schools of millions." 



The following note was sent by a correspondent, "H. W. P.," at Waddington, May 31, 1878, 

 to the Ogdensburg Journal, and forwarded to us by Mr. Lytle: "A colony of ... Shad 

 appeared here yesterday in full spawning order. John Stark caught thirteen, measuring eight 

 inches and under." It is evident from the size of these fish and their spawning condition that 

 they must have been Alewives. Two large females, received from Horton Brothers & Ainsworth, 

 who collected them in Lake Ontario September 17, 1877, were spent. 



ENEMIES AND FATALITIES. According to the statements of persons living on the shores of 

 Lake Ontario, Alewives are largely consumed by lake trout (Salvelinw namaycusti), pike (Esox 

 lucitu), pickerel (Esox reticulatun), muskellunge (Esox nobilior), black bass (Micropterus salmoides 

 and M. dohmiei). There is no doubt that other predatory fishes destroy large numbers of the 

 Alewives, the wall-eyed pike (Stizostedium) and burbot (Lota maculosa) doubtless proving very 

 destructive to this species. The yellow perch (Perca americana), species of Lepomis, Ambloplites, 

 and other centrarchids doubtless kill vast numbers of the young. 



According to the testimony of those who are familiar with the fisheries of the lakes, incredible 

 numbers of Alewives are destroyed by the use of fishing implements intended for the capture of 

 edible fish. Vast quantities of dead Alewives have been observed upon the shores of Seneca and 

 other lakes of New York. Examples of such fish have been received by the United States 

 National Museum from Seneca Lake, whence they were forwarded by Prof. Hamilton L. Smith. 

 An examination of some of these specimens shows that the air-bladder is abnormally distended, 

 filling the major portion of the abdominal cavity. What may have been the cause of this disten- 

 sion is of course unknown, but it will account for the presence of the dying fish at the surface. 



Appended are two extracts (the one from the " Utica Herald" and the other from the " Rochester 

 Union"), which may throw some light upon this subject: 



