XVIII 
the best fish to propagate here, because it is the strongest and 
hardiest species of fish in onr waters. 
Edgar Dashiell. 
1. For twenty years. 
2. Wicomico River. 
3. No. 
4. Shad spawn from May 15th to June 15th. 
5. The catch of shad is now seventy-five per cent, less than 
it was twenty years ago. 
6. I attribute the decrease to hauling seines during spawn- 
ing season and to the spawn being eaten up by eels. 
7. Shad, herring, rock, perch and taylors. Other fish 
might prosper if tried in our waters. 
8. No. 
9. No. 
10. Yes. (Mr. Dashiell, the gentleman who filled this up, 
says that he has frequently caught female rock with roe, but 
not ripe.) 
11. The largest was over eighty pounds. 
13. I don’t think rock are very destructive to other fish. 
John Wilson, Landing JVecJc , Talbot County. 
1. I have fished for twenty-five years, more or less. 
2. Have fished in Miles River occasionally, but for the last 
fifteen years principally in the Choptank. 
3. I have to some extent. 
4. They usually spawn about the last of April or the first 
of May. Some not before the fifteenth of May. They are 
most abundant about the last of April. 
5. Have caught as many as 2,000 shad in one season, but 
for the last three years they have been scarce. Have kept no 
record of the temperature of the water, nor of the range of 
the wind, but have noticed that no fish are caught when the 
wind blows from the east. 
6. Last season was a very poor one — worse than for many 
years past. Nothing like as good as some years back. I at- 
