194 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
As noted by Prof. Baird, the appearance of adult shad promptly followed the intro- 
duction of young fish into the Genesee River, and from that time on for a number of 
years the indications pointed to the probably successful acclimatization of the species. 
Since about 1885, however, the fish have appeared to be growing scarcer, and their 
final disappearance seems to be only a question of a few years. 
Prior to this experimental introduction shad were unknown in Lake Ontario, and 
the theory that their presence was due to their migration up the St. Lawrence River 
is considered untenable by those who have given the subject sufficient study. 
The shad appear to have distributed themselves over the entire lake. At almost 
every fishing community on the American shores of the lake the fishermen remember 
to have taken at irregular intervals between 1875 and 1885 the fish, which was at first a 
stranger to them and which they now seldom, if ever, see. Reports from the northern 
shore of the lake indicate that the shad were probably fully as numerous there as on 
the southern side. The greatest numbers seem to have been taken in the eastern end 
of the lake, in the vicinity of Cape Vincent, in Chaumont Bay, and around the islands, 
where the principal trap fisheries have been prosecuted. Prior to 1888 several hun- 
dred adult shad were caught each year in this region, but of late the American fisher- 
men have seen none whatever, and the few fish secured of which any record could be 
obtained have all been caught in Canadian waters. About August 6, 1891, Mr. W. 
Ainsworth, of Cape Vincent, received a shad from Canada, this being the only one 
seen during the year. In 1890 he handled a fine specimen, also from Canada, weighing 
5 or 6 pounds and about ready to spawn. 
A suggestion as to the cause of the disappearance of shad in the waters of the 
lake is that the fish went to salt water down the St. Lawrence River and failed to 
return. They have been repeatedly seen in the river, and one of the most interesting 
observations of their habits was made at Thousand Island Park. In August, 1881, 
Mr. H. L. Matheson, of Oswego, New York, was fishing at that place for black bass. 
As an experiment he baited his hook with a grasshopper and cast his line from the 
shore of the island into the current, made somewhat muddy by a strong westerly wind. 
The bait was promptly taken, and to his great surprise a 3-pound shad was landed. 
More grasshoppers were secured, and fifteen shad, weighing from 2£ to 3 pounds, were 
taken in a few hours. On succeeding days six, three, and two fish, respectively, were 
caught. Several other parties took one or two fish each in the same way. 
While it is possible that some of the fish left the lake by way of the St. Lawrence 
River, the most plausible reason for their disappearance seems to be that of the neces- 
sarily small proportion of the original plants which reached maturity nearly all were 
caught before natural reproduction supervened. It is also probable that the great 
multiplication of alewives unfavorably affected the increase of shad by diminishing the 
food supply. 
The fact that shad were taken in Lake Ontario in 1891, thirteen years after the 
last fry were deposited, may be taken as a sufficient indication that the waters of the 
lake are adapted to this species, although it does not necessarily prove that the con- 
tinued introduction of young shad would eventually result in the production of suf- 
ficient numbers of fish suitable for food to serve as the objects of a special fishery or to 
offset, in point of value, the original outlay. At the same time it must be apparent that 
the plants of shad in the tributaries of Lake Ontario were wholly inadequate to stock 
such a large body of water; and it is unfortunate that the experiments should have 
