Migrations of Cusk and Shad, 247 



attihawmeg. The average weight of the latter is barely 

 two pounds, whilst individuals of the former, from the head- 

 waters of the St. John, are reputed to weigh from five to 

 six pounds. There the white fishes are so plentiful, that 

 Professor Bailey informs me they jump in dozens to the 

 splash of the canoe paddle as the Indian shoots his skiff 

 along the Tobique lakes.* 



The same remark is applicable to the CUSK, or SPOTTED 

 Burbot (L. maculosa), as obtains in the case of the smelt and 

 white fishes, there being a set that never leaves the fresh water, 

 and another that comes from and returns to the sea regu- 

 larly. I compared specimens from the two situations, and, 

 excepting in the former being rather darker in colouring, there 

 are no appreciable distinctions. The sea-going set ascend 

 the rivers in winter, and are captured through the ice when 

 heavy with spawn. Nothing further is observed with reference 

 to its movements until October, when numbers are captured 

 on sand shoals, some from six to seven pounds in weight. 



In the introductory remarks at the commencement I men- 

 tioned the prevalence of the Gaspereau or "Alewive"(^4. 

 try annus) in vast sculls in the Bay of Fundy during spring, 

 when they collect for the purpose of pushing up the rivers to 

 spawn. According to Perley,t it spends the winter in the 

 south, and does not enter the Bay of Fundy until April. As 

 in the case of the other migrants, the return to salt water 

 is not marked by any indications of its presence, so that it 

 is probable they return independently. The SHAD (A.sapi- 

 dissima), in the opinion of Dekay,J comes also, from the south 

 to the northern waters, running up the rivers for shorter 



* Perhaps the shad salmon (A. clupieformis) included in my List 

 as being met with in Maine, might turn out to be this land-locked white 

 fish. (See Report of the Agriculture, etc., of Maine ; 1st series, 1861, 

 and 2nd series, 1862, pp. 31 and 60.) A superficial examination would 

 soon tell the differences between it and the C. albus. 



t Op. cit., p. 208. 



t " Fishes of New York." 



