'9°9 •] THE CAYUGA LAKE BASIN, N. Y. 397 



VII. Order APODES. 

 8. Family Anguillid^. The True Eels. 



34. Anguilla chrysypa Rafinesque. Common eel. 



Common in the lake and the larger streams and ponds. The 

 largest specimen taken in the basin of which we have any record 

 is one caught in the lake May 29, 1893, which measured three 

 feet in length. One caught off Kidder's Ferry a few years ago is 

 said to have measured five feet. 



VII. Order ISOSPONDYLI. 

 9. Family ClupeidjE. The Herrings. 



35. Pomolobus pseudoharengus (Wilson). Alewife, saw-belly. 

 One of the most abundant fishes in the lake where it has been 



known since 1872. In the spring from the first of May to the mid- 

 dle of August they die in great numbers and are washed ashore. 

 During the summer of 1907 dead individuals were much more 

 abundant than in the three preceding years. 



Many persons in the region of Cayuga lake attribute the presence 

 of the alewife here to its introduction by Seth Green who, accord- 

 ing to Dr. H. M. Smith," disclaimed any responsibility for their 

 presence in Lake Ontario, but we have been unable to find any 

 statement concerning Cayuga Lake. Dr. T. H. Bean^* is of the 

 opinion that they have come hither of their own accord, for he 

 writes : 



As to their presence in Seneca and Cayuga lakes, New York, we have 

 ground for believing that they have, of their own accord, penetrated thus far 

 into the interior of New York State. Mr. Fred Mather writes that he has 

 seen alewives go up the canal locks at West Troy and Professor H. L. Smith, 

 of Geneva, who first noticed them in the neighborhood of Seneca Lake in 

 June, 1868, states that the canal was opened at about that time and thinks that 

 they might come into the New York lakes from the Chesapeake or Delaware 

 Bays through Elmira and Painted Post. 



"'Smith, H. M., "Report on the Fisheries of Lake Ontario," Bull. U. S. 

 Fish Com., 1892, p. 188. 



" Bean, T. H., " The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States," 

 Section I., Natural History of Aquatic Animals, Washington, 1884, p. 590. 

 " Fishes of New York," Bull. 60, New York State Museum, p. 200. 



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