ABUNDANCE OF FISH ON NEW ENGLAND COAST. 167 



larger and smaller EDglish shads— tlie allis and twait, (iv, 117.) 

 Perhaps I have wasted too many words and too uuich paper on this 

 name, bnt I am tired of the re-appearance every now and then of Dr. 

 Smith's spurions Indian '' aloof ^ 



'' En decembre, vu, pour parler plus juste, pendant les deux dernieres 

 lunes, un poisson appelle Fonamo vient frayer sur les glaces, et on en 

 prend autant qu'on veut; je erois que c'est une espece de Chien de 

 Mer:'— [Tom. I, p. 127.) 



''Vers la fin de mars, les poissous commencent a frayer, et entrent 

 dans les rivieres en si grande quantite, qu'on ne pent le croire, quand on 

 ne I'a i^oint vii. Le preniier qui paroit est VUpJan^ lequel est trois fois 

 plus grand en ce pays- la, qu'en Europe. A la fin d'Avril le Sareng 

 donne," etc. — (Ibid.) 



Charlevoix, Histoire genercde de la Noiiv. France, fFaris, 11 H J bor- 

 rows this account of the fishes of Acadie from Father Biard's Eelation 

 de la ]S"ouv. France, 1611-13. Biard writes : 



"En decembre (admirable i)rovidence de Dieu) vient un poisson 

 appelle d'eux Fonamo, qui fraye sous la glace, (p. 10.) Sur la my-mars, 

 le poisson commence a frayer et a monter de la mer en haut contre cer- 

 tains ruisseaux, souvent en si grande abondance, que tout en fourraille. 



Eutre ces poissous, I'j&s/^Za?! est le premier. Get esT)lan est deux 



■ou trois fois plus grand que Fest le nostre de riviere." (P. 10.) 



You will observe that Charlevoix, by mistranscription, makes the 

 Fonamo spawn " s*?«' les glaces" instead of ^^sous la glace," and con- 

 founds it with some species of " cMen de mer,^- and, oddly enough. Dr. 

 J. G. Shea, in his new translation of Charlevoix, mistranslates " cMen 

 de mer " by " ^ea/," an error to be noted in his errata. 



The Fonamo is the Tom-cod or Frost-fish (M. tomeodus, Mitch.,) of 

 which the modern Micmac name is Boonamoo. It is not confounded by 

 Biard or Charlevoix with tke other '' frost-fish," the Smelt, (Eperlan.) 



The name Fonamo means " winter fish," or, more exactly, "fish taken 

 in the winter." 



Biard's relation will be found in the reprinted " Eelations des Jesuites," 

 (Quebec, 1858,) vol. 1, to be found in the Congressional Library. 



The notices of fishes of ^ew England in Wood's " ]N"ew England's 

 Prospect," (London, 1631, and reprinted, Boston, 1865, by the •' Prince 

 Society,") you have probably noticed f and, of course, Josselyn's list of 

 Xew England fish, in his " Account of Two Voyages to i^ew England," 

 (London, 1675.) as well as in his "New England Rarities," (1672.) In 

 the foruier work (pp. 112, 113) he describes the " Frost-fish," " a little 

 bigger than a Gudgeon/' &c. j but in his list (p. 89) includes the " Smelt" 

 by name. 



Captain John Smith, in "The Description of New England," 1616, 

 (reprinted, Boston, 1865,) gives a short list of the fishes of New Eng- 

 land, (p. 18,) which includes "Cole, Cusk, or small Ling, Mullet, FinacliS, 

 [very plenty,] Gunners,'^ &c. 



"Pinak" is, I suppose, the old English "Pinck" or "Pink," meaning 

 any "small" or "delicate" fish, and still in use as a name for the min- 

 now. (Dutch pincl', innlcy? the little finger.) " Gunner," in the seven- 

 teenth century, belonged to the Golden Wrasse, [GrenUahrus Bonovani, 

 Cuv. and Val., Lahriis cornuUus, Don.,) rather than to the other "Gilt 

 Head," the Sparus aurata, of Linn. — Ghrysophrys aiirata, Cuv. and Yar- 

 rell. The former was common, the latter rare, on the southern coast of 

 England; and I have no doubt that Smith and Josselyn both trans- 

 ferred the name of "-Conner" (see Yarrell, ii, 498) from tiie Wrasse, not 

 from the Gilthead proper." But it is very likely that the Dutch name of 



