124 PHYSOSTOMI. 



generally deposit their spawn about March or April, and mostly near the high 

 water spring-tide mark, subsequent to which they descend to the sea. In March, 

 according to Parnell, they ascend the Forth in large shoals, and shed their spawn 

 in immense quantities about two miles below Stirling Bridge, where at that time 

 every stone, plank, and post appear to be covered with their yellowish-coloured 

 ova. The fry are found about 3 inches long, swimming near the surface in shoals 

 in the rivers in the month of August, ascending and descending with the tide 

 (Tarrell). In America, at Maryland, the attempt to artificially propagate a 

 species of this genus in 1877 proved unsuccessful. 



As food. — The smelt is justly held in great estimation for the table, but after 

 spawning becomes insipid. It used to be split and dried and was thus considered to 

 add a particular relish to the morning dram of spirits. Spring fishing for smelts 

 is said to be inimical to smolts in Solway Firth, while in autumn the nets kill the 

 parent fish. It is said by the French to be a good bait for eels : while the picked 

 dog fish, Acantlvias vulgaris, destroy large numbers of them in estuaries. 



Habitat. — Coasts of Northern and Central Europe (probably excluding 

 Iceland), and entering fresh waters, found in all the larger lakes of Finland, 

 as well as along the sea shore (Malm). Along the Atlantic coast of France, 

 abounding in the summer, and in the Seine as high as Rouen. 



Banffshire, rare (Edward). St. Andrews, not uncommon, large numbers 

 being caught in the Tay (Mcintosh). 



In the Firth of Forth, in the neighbourhood of Alloa, it is taken in great 

 numbers, especially towards the fall of the year. Those captured from November 

 till January seldom exceed 6 inches in length, but after the end of March the 

 larger ones appear and the smaller ones take their departure (Parnell). Some of 

 the rivers of East Anglia abound in these most beautiful and delicious fish, 

 which are resident and common in the estuaries of the Tees and of the Humber. 

 Also in the Ouse and the Humber from Naburn Loch to Spurn Point, and 

 occurs a considerable distance up the Tees (Yorkshire Vertebrata). There is a 

 smelt fishery at Boston in Lincolnshire, from September until May, the fish being 

 full of ova in April. It seems to be absent along our south coast from Dover to 

 Land's End. Dr. Norman, of Yarmouth, in 1881, mentions in Land and Water a 

 fine specimen he saw in Mrs. French's shop window at Yarmouth, scaling over 

 seven ounces. Their cucumber-like smell when first caught is very perceptible. 

 Then they are indeed a treat ; but, in a few hours after, become comparatively 

 insipid. Found in the estuaries of the Thames and Medway, in which latter 

 river Pennant observed it never enters so long as snow water is present. 



Parfitt (Fauna of Devon, p. 19) observes of this fish, " taken in the Exe : 

 Ross, MSS., i, p. 55." Having been shown the MSS. by Mr. D'Urban at the 

 Albert Institute, Exeter, I find that it is the sand smelt, or Atherine, which 

 Mr. Ross referred to. It has been asserted that this fish has been captured as far 

 south as Swansea, but the statement is doubted by Dillwyn, who never found it 

 there. Examples from Conway are in the British Museum. Along the west 

 coast this fish is taken in the Dee and in the Mersey, while at Ulverstone they 

 are found heavy with spawn about the middle of March, the fishery being 

 concluded by the middle of April. There are also smelt fisheries in the estuaries 

 of many of the rivers which enter the Solway, where they arrive in March or 

 April to spawn, they are very small in June and July, but at their prime in 

 September. They do not appear to ascend above brackish water in order to 

 deposit their ova. 



In Ireland, Rutty, in his natural history of the county of Dublin, and Smith 

 in that of Cork, mentions the capture of the smelt, and Templeton (Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 1837 (2), i, p. 411) asserts that it is sometimes taken on the coast in considerable 

 abundance, but often several years intervene during which they are scarcely met 

 with ; Thompson suggests that these authors allude to the Atherine or sand smelt 

 (i, p. 225), as he cannot find any authentic record of the true smelt having been 

 captured in Ireland. 



It attains to 10 or 12 inches in length. Pennant alludes to one of 13 inches 

 which weighed l£ lb. The example figured is 10 2 inches in length. 



