174 AMERICAN FISH CULTURE, 



port, have had a taste of fish ; and those living ahove those 

 points being informed that with an expenditure of a few 

 thousand dollars at each dam, this delicious luxury can he 

 brought again to their doors, it will not be at all surprising 

 if they should feel exceedingly anxious that a law should 

 be passed benefitting them in the same way. 



" Large numbers of the spawned fry of the shad have 

 been observed at various points making their way down 

 the river during the fall, and the bodies of the old fish — 

 those that had fulfilled their mission in spawning — were 

 also seen at various points, in large numbers, late in the 

 season, floating down with the current. 



" I should not be surprised, therefore, if the catch in 

 the coming season would double or treble the number 

 taken during the season last past, for it is a well-known 

 instinct of this branch of the finny tribe that they return 

 unerringly to the localities in which they were spawned, 

 unless prevented by some insurmountable obstacle inter- 

 posed during their absence. 



" The erection of fish dams (weirs) in the river, how- 

 ever, will tend very materially to diminish this desirable 

 result, and public opinion in Dauphin, Cumberland, and 

 Perry counties is so strong against these devices, that I 

 believe but a single one was erected along the borders of 

 those counties this year, and that one was promptly sup- 

 pressed by law. 



" Having heard, however, that some of those nuisances 

 were about to be, or had been erected, along the river 

 nearer to Columbia, I caused the citizens to be requested 

 to lodge information against them: 



