THE SALMON FAMILY. 



266 



As an article of trade the Smelt is of some importance. It 

 is said that a firm in Boston, who, it appears, monopolizes the 

 trade in this delicate little fish, sells no less than a hundred 

 thousand dollars' worth of them during the season, which 

 commences in October or November and lasts till March. 

 They are taken in large numbers along our coast north of 

 Boston, and are still more abundant along the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, where they come up the rivers as far as the head 

 of tide to spawn. In the month of May, just above the 

 head of tide-water, immense schools of them are directed 

 in their course so as to pass through a narrow opening, 

 formed by piling stones in two oblique rows nearly together at 

 the upper ends. As the Smelts rush through in a continuous 

 stream, they are dipped up with scoop-nets. A hundred 

 barrels of them are sometimes taken in a week on the 

 Nipissiguit by a man, assisted by a half-grown boy. There 

 they are used for manure, selling for fifty or sixty cents a 

 barrel at Bathurst. The usual price in the New York market 

 is from ten to fifteen cents a pound. 



and it is said also in the Passaic, though during some winters they even 

 there are comparatively scarce. 



" It is evident from the size, shape, and arrangement of the teeth, that 

 this fish is extremely predatory, and in that respect more closely allied to 

 the true Salmon than either of the genera of Coregonua or Thymallua. 



" In the examination of this fish I have ascertained a fact -which is also 

 worthy of note : it is, that the second dorsal or adipose fin (which in this 

 fish is transparent), has about twenty minute cartilaginous rays ; they are 

 quite distinct, and the question arises, are there not rays in the adipose 

 fin of all the SalmonidcB, though it may be covered with thick skin or fat, 

 concealing the rays 1 The adipose fin was given for use by the Creator, 

 and not as a useless appendage, and without the rays how else could it be 

 contracted or expanded, or moved from one side to the other ? It may be 

 said that they are merely cartilaginous, but so are many of the rays, 

 especially near the ends or border of the fins. Dr. Bridges could not 

 discover these rays on examining this fish, as it had been dipped in 

 alcohol, and the fin rendered opaque." 



