REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 105 
meager fish fauna. Apparently the only species other than the common 
trout and the above-mentioned peculiar trout, is a small minnow 
(Rhinichthys atronasus). The two trouts attain only a small size, sel- 
dom over a pound in S. fontinalis and still smaller in the saibling. 
This is probably due to scarcity of food. 
Presumpscot and Royal River basins.—In these waters and the 
brooks tributary to Casco Bay, special attention was given to smelts, 
trout, and landlocked salmon. There are often found in June, in the 
tidal portion of many of the brooks flowing directly into Casco Bay, 
some silvery trout otherwise indistinguishable from S. fontinalis, and 
sometimes known as ‘‘salters.” Some of these fish caught about the 
middle of June were found to be gorged with young eels of the trans- 
lucent stage. It was a mooted question among the trout fishermen of 
the locality whether the fish came up from the sea or descended from 
the fresh water. 
In June, 1904, an attempt was made to solve the question. Seines 
were used in the pools frequented by the trout at different times of 
tides, and trials were made with hook and line for a long distance 
below the places usually fished. The fish were found only in those 
pools a short distance below high tide limit. While the water is 
rather salt at flood and high tide, it is practically fresh at low water; 
the seines took alewives (Pomolobus pseudoharengus) and suckers (C. 
commersonii) in the pools mentioned. These facts taken together 
indicate that the trout have.descended from the fresh water. 
Smelts begin to ascend the brooks, when the conditions are suitable, 
in the last part of March or early April. The runs continue some- - 
times up to the 1st of May or later. After spawning, the fish linger 
in the brooks for some time, gradually decreasing in numbers, and not 
infrequently dead fish are found. All of the specimens collected were 
spent males. While it was not positively decided whether the death 
of these fish was due to natural causes or to injury received from 
fishermen, the abundance of dead, dying, and fungus and copepod 
infested smelts found in fresh water shortly after the breeding season 
suggests that many smelts die naturally after spawning. 
During spawning, and afterwards while in fresh water, food is seldom 
found in the smelts’ stomachs, though an occasional minnow is met 
with. In one brook sticklebacks and small trout were feeding upon 
the eggs, and in the stomachs of the trout sand was mixed with the 
egos, probably scooped up with them. In another brook, after the 
smelts had disappeared, four species of sticklebacks (Pygosteus pun- 
gitius, Gasterosteus aculeatus, G. bispinosus, and Apeltes quadracus) 
were found filled with recently hatched smelts. Though the mummi- 
chog (Fundulus heteroclitus) was numerous here, no young smelts 
were found in the stomachs. 
