THE SMELTS 
305 
May 7, 1910 . — Pleasant and calm; 30 dead and dying smelts, from 4)4 to 5 )4 
inches long, were found by the “straight shore” in “slicks,” where there were many 
insects. The smelts were more or less fungused, especially about the tail, but 
occasionally on some other part of the body. When the tail was affected the fungus 
extended at least a third of the length of the fish. There were copepods on the gills 
of all. 
May 16, 1910. — Off the straight shoe one fungused dying smelt was found. 
June 8, 1910. — A dead smelt, 5 inches long, was washed up on the shore of 
Raymond Cape, but no lesion or visible mark of injury was to be seen. 
Observations made in other waters, in 1903, were as follows: 
June 29. — Two dead smelts, each about 5% inches long, were found on the 
beach of Square Lake at Cummings camps. 
June 30. — In the morning dead smelts 6 inches more or less long were found 
floating at the surface in coves near the camps. 
July 2. — Many smelts, 5 or 6 inches long, and other dead fish were found on 
the beach. The associated fish were large and small common suckers, few large and 
small common chub ( Semotilus bullaris) , chub minnows ( Couesius plumb eus) , some 
large redfins ( Notropis cornutus) , fair-sized “ cusk ” ( Lota maculosa,), and two little 
whitefish ( Coregonus stanleyi) . 
July 3 . — During a fresh blow many fishes were washed up on the beach, but 
no smelts. 
July 4 - — A few dead fish, but no smelts, were found. 
July 6. — Smelts in dying condition, with fungus on front of the head, were 
found near the beach. 
July 8. — On the east shore of Cross Lake numerous dead smelts from 5 to 10 
inches long were found; some were old and others fairly fresh. Some redfins and 
suckers also were found. 
July 10. — At the surface on Cross Lake some large dead smelts with fungused 
heads and one large chub minnow were found. 
July 12. — On the shore of Cross Lake several fresh dead smelts, some chubs, 
and suckers, and one dead whitefish were found. 
The present writer once wrote (Kendall, 1914, p. 75) that after the spawning 
period for some days, even weeks, many dead and dying smelts are found at the 
surface and washed up on the beach, bearing no lesions or marks of injury. It was 
formerly thought that perhaps it was due to the exhaustion and starvation of the 
spawning period, which causes them to succumb to slight changes of temperature, 
or inability to obtain sufficient food soon enough to enable them to recuperate. But 
throughout the season more or less dead of various sizes and ages are found washed 
up on the beaches. At Sunapee Lake some dead and dying adult fish, ranging in 
length from 3)4 to 7 inches, were observed near the mouths of brooks during the 
spawning season. Such fish, however, did not occur there in such large numbers as 
have been observed in other waters during and following the spawning, and young 
and adults were found throughout the seasons of 1910 and 1911. 
Seldom were any lesions observable, and those at any time present were usu- 
ally a congestion about the vent, which was occasionally accompanied by a growth 
