THE SMELTS AND THEIR KINDRED. 505 
in the Raritan River, although much inferior to that which formerly prevailed 
on account of the remorseless pursuit by the improvident fishermen.” 
Mr. W. C. Kendall has communicated for use in the present volume the 
following original and interesting data on the smelts of Maine. 
Thirty years ago this little fish abounded along the coast of Maine, in the 
spring ascending every accessible fresh-water stream, large and small. At 
the present time there are places where smelts are still numerous, but on 
the whole there seems to have been a great decrease in numbers. Exces- 
sive fishing in the spawning time is no doubt a prime cause of their scarcity 
in some of their former haunts. The drag seine and weirs are additional 
factors. Formerly hook and line fishing through the ice was the prevalent 
mode of catching them, and in some localities is still of considerable im- 
portance, but the bulk of market fish are now taken in seines and weirs. 
The smelt remains about the coasts in the bays, estuaries, and lower parts 
of rivers throughout the year, save when it ascends fresh-water streams to 
breed. It will ascend even a small rivulet so narrow in places that it may 
be stopped with the two hands, and over shoals that the fish has to wriggle 
over with its back out of water. As soon as the ice is out and the water 
has cleared from the spring freshets, smelts appear in the brooks, at first in 
small numbers, all of which seem to be males, then rapidly increasing in 
numbers with mixed sexes. The time of the first run varies in different 
localities, but in Casco Bay it occurs during the last of March or first part 
of April. The runs continue sometimes until the middle of May. ‘Ine 
ascent is usually made in the night and on the ebb tide, though sometimes 
there are runs on dark days. The eggs adhere to grass, sticks, stones, 
etc. At this time they will not bite the hook and seem not to feed much, 
although occasionally small animals, such as shrimp or killifish, are found 
in their stomachs. I have removed a living killifish (Fundulus) from the 
stomach of a smelt caught some hours before and revived it in a basin of 
water. The food consists of small fishes, shrimps, and other small animals. 
The dip net during spawning time is certainly one of the most destructive 
agencies, tending toward the ultimate extinction of one of the most deli- 
cious pan fishes that the waters of Maine afford. If the species does not 
become extinct, the fishery may. 
The smelt does not spawn in tidal waters, but makes its way long dis- 
tances up the streams, and in the smaller streams or brooks the run of one 
night, in fact, of every night of the season, is usually almost, if not quite, 
annihilated. I have in mind two or three brooks flowing into Casco Bay 
