274 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
inches to 10 inches in length. Smitt (1893) says that in the largest Swedish lake,. 
Wener, the fish frequently attains a length of a foot to the extreme tip of the caudal 
fin, but in a footnote he says that Jernow (Vermlands och Dais Ryggradsdjur, p. 108) 
ascribes a length of nearly 15% inches. In Lake Malar, Smitt remarks, it frequently 
attains a fair size, something over 10% inches, but in the smaller lakes it seldom 
exceeds a length of from 4 to 7% inches. 
Nordqvist (1910) indicates that 3-year-old smelts obtained by him in one lake 
were 94 to 112 millimeters (about 3^ to 4% inches) long, but that occasionally larger 
fish were caught. In a neighboring lake the fish were somewhat larger. 
Of the Lake St. John smelt (in Canada) Chambers (1903) wrote that they 
“present a beggarly, half-starved appearance as compared with the St. Lawrence 
fish. They more nearly approximate to the smelt found by Cope in Wilton Pond r 
Kennebec county, Maine, and described by him as Osmerus spectrum in 1870.” 
Halkett (1913) stated that the Lac des Isles smelts are dwarfed but otherwise 
the external characters appear to agree with the ordinary Osmerus mordax. Cox 
wrote the p'resesnt writer that the smelts of Lake Utopia, New Brunswick, are 
diminutive. 
Smelts from Memphremagog Lake, as represented by specimens in the collection 
of the present writer, range from 6% to inches, and average about 6.9 inches. 
In a collection from Lake Champlain 79 specimens taken in 1911 ranged from 5.4 to 
11.2 inches and averaged a little over 7.1 inches, but much larger ones have been 
reported. 
At a meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History in 1857, Dr. H. R. Storer 
presented specimens of smelt from Squam Lake, N. H. He said that when full grown 
this smelt seldom exceeded 6 inches in length, and was extremely attenuated. 
The report of the New Hampshire commissioners on fisheries for 1870 stated that 
smelt occurred in Lake “ Winnipiseogee ” and several ponds in the vicinity, those in 
the smaller ponds, “contrary to the usual course of things, being much larger than 
those in the lake.” It was said that the largest measured only 6 or 7 inches in 
length, and those in the lake itself were seldom found to be over 4 inches long. 
The present writer has specimens from lake Winnepesaukee, 32 of which range 
from 2.7 inches to a little over 4 inches, and averaged about 3% inches in total 
length; also 71 specimens from Lake Massabesic, N. H., run from about 4 to nearly 
5% inches, and average about 4.6 inches. 
The more extensive available data concerning Maine smelts makes it desirable 
to refer to the particular waters represented by river basins. 
PRESUMPSCOT BASIN 
Sebago Lake . — May 1, 1878, Atkins received from J. R. Dillingham, of Songo 
Lock, a box of 36 smelts, all spent. Seven were large and ran in size as follows: One 
of 9.6 inches weighed 4 ounces; one of 9.4 inches weighed 4.4 ounces and another of 
the same length weighed 3.2 ounces; one of 9.2 inches weighed 4 ounces and an- 
other of the same length weighed 3.6 ounces; one of 8.6 inches weighed 3.2 ounces. 
They averaged 9.2 inches and 3.7 ounces. Twenty-nine of the smaller form ranged 
from 3.9 to 4.3 inches and averaged 4.1 inches. 
