348 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
In the Elbe Ehrenbaum found that while the smallest ripe fish were 4 inches long, 
others which were as large as this were immature. He also observed that in the first 
half of the summer, before the young of the year had got beyond the larval stages, 
young immature smelt of 2 ^ to 3% inches in length were very abundant, and also 
caught in very large numbers for eel bait. This shows the usual growth of the year- 
old fish, some of which spawn for the first time when two years old and 4 inches to 
6 inches long.” 
The growth of the smelt from the fry stage is comparatively rapid, though the 
size attained in a given time is variable, as indicated by the following measurements: 
Smelt fry obtained from the stomachs of sticklebacks ( Gasterosteus ) in the tidal 
portion of Casco Bay, Me., creek, only a short distance below high-water mark, on 
May 13, averaged less than 0.2 inch in length. Judging from the presence, in some 
instances, of incompletely absorbed yolk sac the fish could not have been hatched 
long. 
On August 3 translucent young smelts, ranging in size from 1.2 to 2 inches, were 
caught at an island in Casco Bay several miles from any possible breeding place. On 
October 14 young smelts, still translucent, caught in the same bay, ranged from about 
2 to 2.56 inches in length. On December 11 others, also translucent, ranged from 
2.4 to about 3.6 inches long. 
Again, on the following February 10, similar young smelts ranged from about 
2.6 to 3.56 inches in length. Still again, on March 5 following, specimens ranged 
from 2.4 to about 3.75 inches in length. While only the last three collections were 
consecutive in the same period, inasmuch as they represent a brood of the year pre- 
vious to the one just considered — that is, fish about 15 months old — they are 
probably fish that would breed for the first time in the following year — that is, at 
2 years of age. 
In the same brook, on April 20 of the same year in which the previously men- 
tioned newly hatched fry were obtained, 12 breeding smelts were taken, consisting 
of equal numbers of males and females that ranged from about 6 to 7.8 inches and 
averaged 6.52 inches in length. They represented the smaller fish and at the same 
time the size of the majority, but not necessarily the average, for probably some 
larger fish that may or may not have been older were present. This would indicate 
a gain of 3.28 inches in about eight months from the preceding August. 
As the foregoing figures are not exact, and as only the last three periods men- 
tioned in reference to the series of young fish were consecutive in the same year, 
they might be considered insufficient data upon which to base a generalization. 
However, the figures so closely approximate conclusions reached by certain European 
authorities respecting the common smelt of northern Europe, that they may be 
regarded as to some extent representative of a general situation. In this country, 
at least, virtually no observations upon the rate of growth of the fresh-water smelt 
have been made. 
Concerning the smelts of Finland, presumably a fresh-water form, Reuter (1883) 
said that the fry grows rapidly where there is abundance of food, but under other 
circumstances its growth is easily stopped. 
Young smelts obtained from the stomach of a trout ( Salvelinus jontinalis ) in 
Sunapee Lake, N. H., by the present writer on August 13, 1910, measured 1.1 to 1.4 
