TENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 75 
haden are as numerous as ever the present season, the fish com- 
missioner should take some steps to investigate them and teach 
the people how to utilize their presence. If the presence of the 
sea bass recently caught near Sacket’s Harbor comes from the 
following of the menhaden to our waters, and other species are 
liable to do the same thing, fishermen and fish eaters may be 
benefited by the facts. We suggest the superintendent of the 
Fishery Department send a duly qualified deputation to the St. 
Lawrence in June of the present year, to investigate the menha- 
den visitation which takes place at that time.” 
The people are alarmed at the new visitation ; but, in my opin- 
ion, when they learn that the alewife can be eaten and salted for 
winter they will find that its greatly increased numbers will make 
it a more valuable fish than the lamented “cisco,” as it breeds 
faster, being a spring spawner and therefore hatching quicker, 
as well as having smaller eggs and many more of them. 
There may be no fresh water fishes which would be of practical 
value if introduced into salt water, but it is interesting from a 
zoological point of view to know that some of them will live 
there. The brook trout of Long Island run down into the salt 
bays and the sea and feed on shrimp, and some species of white 
fish are recorded by Pallas as living in the sea and sending off 
legions into.the streams flowing from Lake Baikal, from whence 
some of the young return and some remain in fresh water for- 
ever ; while shad have been taken in the Genesee River, in west- 
ern New York, and in Lake Erie, at Toledo, as well as in Lake 
Champlain. It is also reported that two valuable salt water 
fishes of Europe, the basse (Zaérax), and the gray mullet (J7ugz/), 
are artificially bred in pure fresh water in the Lake of Acqua, 
near Padua, at the head of the Adriatic. 
