THE SMELTS 
239 
He said that it was presumed that they spawn there in the spring, as they do else- 
where, but he considered it as rather remarkable that they ran up the river both at 
the commencement and at the end of winter, and that many of them were found to 
contain spawn in the autumn as well as in the spring. 
Concerning the same condition, Cheney (1894a, p. 162) wrote that he had a 
query from a correspondent in Canada who said: 
“We catch smelts here in the St. Lawrence twice a year, in April or May, and again in Octo- 
ber or November. At both seasons they are full of spawn. How is this to be accounted for? Do 
they spawn twice a year, or are they not the same individuals that run up spring and fall?” 
Concerning this point it may be said that in the fall the ovaries and eggs have 
begun to develop and the little eggs are plainly visible, being clear yellow in color, 
but they do not completely fill the fish then as they do in the spring near the breed- 
ing season. The bright yellow color of the eggs makes them so conspicuous, how- 
ever, that those who have observed them often have been misled and regarded them 
as fully developed. 
Smitt (1895) says of the Swedish smelt that the greater part of the breeding 
shoal is composed of females. This is contrary to the present writer’s observations. 
It has long been observed that the initial runs consist almost wholly of males, and 
that as the season progresses the proportion of females increases until they are approx- 
imately in equal numbers. In 1924 such regularity in increase of females was not 
observed, although they did increase in number. Males greatly predominated at 
first, and of 113 fish caught on April 12 only 4 were females. Perhaps if observations 
could have been continuous and unhindered by fishing operations they would have 
shown a different tendency. 
On April 13, of 266 smelts taken, 17 were females. Of 37 smelts taken on 
April 28, 23 were males and 14 females. On April 29 so many persons were fishing 
that the writer secured only 14 smelts; 8 of these were males and 6 were females. 
On April 30 again observations were hindered by fishermen and only 33 smelts were 
secured, of which 10 were males and 23 females. On May 6, 105 smelts included 
but 1 female; and finally on May 15 there were only 5 smelts to be seen in the 
brook, the 3 caught being males. 
The interruption in the runs of smelts was not caused wholly by fishing, but 
also may be attributed to heavy rains and freshets. In fact, the latter may have 
been the principal cause. So far as the principal brook under observation is con- 
cerned, the smelts appear to have ceased to run by May 15, as subsequently none 
was seen there. The night of the 16th was beautiful and there was a high run of 
tide, high water occurring at 9.42 p. m. The brook was explored but no smelts were 
found. 
In the spring of 1925, in the same brook, the proportion of females to the total 
number caught on consecutive dates from April 1 to May 2 was as follows : On April 
1 only 14 fish were taken. Of these only one was a female. On April 2, 66 fish 
were caught, of which 22 were females. On the 8th only 1 1 fish were caught, 7 of 
which were females. On the 9th 45 fish comprised 11 females. The 10th yielded 
75 fish, of which 32 were females. On the 16th 177 fish comprised 55 females, and 
