until some time in July. Fish are rarely taken before the last two weeks in April. May and June are the best months. In that part of the river adjacent to Bangor there is a small fishery prosecuted with set gill nets. The nets are from 100 to 200 feet long and have a 6-inch mesh.

Salmon weir, Castine. Hedge 200 feet long, made of stakes driven in mud interwoven with brush to low-water mark, covered with netting beyond. Great pound, 30 feet long, 30 feet wide at base, made of netting; entrance 8 feet wide. Inner pounds, 10 feet wide, with board floors; outer entrance 2 feet wide, inner 1 foot. Value, $70.	Salmon weir, Stockton. Leader or hedge, 400 yards long, all brush except 20 yards next to head, which piece is netting above low-water mark and brush below. Main compartment or great pound 80 feet long and 25 feet wide, with 10-foot entrance on each aide of leader. Smaller compartments, directed downstream, 21 feet long; with 2-foot entrance to first and 8-inch entrance to second. Value, $100.	Salmon weir, Stockton. Leader 200 feet long; brush from shore to low-water mark; remainder brush at bottom, netting at top. Head 60 feet long; outer pound 40 feet, middle pound 12 feet, inner pound 8 feet; brush below low-water line, netting above; plank floors in two smaller compartments. Value, $40.

Salmon weir, Winterport. Leader, brush, 6 rods long. Heart, brush or netting, 40 feet long, 20 feet wide, with 8-foot entrance on each side of leader. Pockets, netting, 10 feet in diameter, 9-inch entrance, wooden floor. Value, $50.	"Upanddown" Salmon weirs, Orland. Constructed of brush except final compartments, which are of netting with wooden floors. Value of set, $65	Salmon weir, built at Verona in 1889. The most elaborate net used in the Penobscot region.

Salmon at Matinicus and Ragged islands.

Matinicus is a small island located south of Penobscot Bay and about 15 miles southeast of the nearest mainland (Thomaston). It is in the route of salmon coming in from the sea to ascend the river, and nets set in favorable positions would naturally be expected to intercept the fish. On the western side of the island Messrs. R. Crie & Sons have operated a trap for mackerel and herring for four years, and during that time have incidentally taken a number of salmon. Between May 20 and July 10 marketable fish are caught, while in August and September salmon too small to utilize are taken in considerable quantities; in the opinion of the Messrs. Crie these small fish were on their way to sea from the Penobscot River. It has been observed that when an easterly wind is blowing very few salmon are taken, but during a westerly wind salmon are always obtained in the months named, and the quantity of salmon secured in any given year bears a close relation to the direction of the prevailing winds. In 1895 the number of marketable salmon caught was 65; in 1896 the catch was 167. The largest fish taken in the two years weighed 30 pounds, the smallest ½ pound. The largest daily catch was 31 salmon, in 1896; the next largest, 27, in 1894.

Mr. W. B. Young, of Matinicus Island, has a herring weir on the southwestern part of Ragged Island, which lies a short distance south of Matinicus Island. In 1896 this weir during June and July caught 15 salmon with an aggregate weight of 200 pounds. The largest weighed 24½ pounds. No small, unmarketable ones were obtained.

Salmon at the Cranberry Isles.

The Cranberry Isles lie a few miles south of Mount Desert Island and about 25 miles east of Penobscot Bay. They are in the track of migrating salmon, as a few herring weirs set around the islands have for several years taken one or more salmon almost annually. [3] Mr. W. I. Mayo, a correspondent at the islands, reports that in June, 1895, Colonel Hadlock took a 17-pound salmon in a weir, and on May 5 of the same year Mr. Mayo caught one weighing 19 pounds. None had been taken, however, in 1896 up to September 1.

Salmon caught with hook off Maine coast.

Instances are multiplying of the taking of salmon at sea on trawl lines on the New England coast. The salmon are usually taken during the time when the fish are running in the rivers, but occasionally one has been caught in midwinter. The following data relate to fish that probably belonged to the Penobscot school.

On June 19, 1896 a Gloucester fishing vessel brought into Rockland a 10-pound salmon that had been caught on a cod trawl 20 miles southeast of Matinicus. The fish was sent home to Gloucester by the captain of the vessel, through Mr. Charles E. Weeks, a Rockland fish-dealer.

Several salmon have been taken on hooks off Frenchman Bay within a few years. One 25-pound fish was caught on a cod trawl 3 miles off Gouldsboro, in 20 fathoms of water, and another was taken southeast of Mount Desert Island in 35 fathoms.

Some years ago, on May 22, one of the crew of the schooner Telephone, of Orland, Me., while fishing for cod on German Bank, caught a 10-pound salmon. German Bank lies about 50 miles southeast of Mount Desert Island and has 65 to 100 fathoms of water.

Destruction of salmon by seals.

Seals are known to kill a great many salmon in Penobscot Bay and the lower river. They enter and leave the weirs and traps without difficulty and cause great annoyance to the fishermen. When a seal enters a net, the fish are frightened and usually become meshed; the seal may then devour them at its leisure. The initial bite usually includes the salmon's head.

Fishermen in some places report a noticeable increase in seals in the past few years, and a consequent increase in damage done to the salmon fishery. The State pays a bounty of $1 each for seal scalps, which serves to keep the seals somewhat in check, although the sagacity of the animals makes it difficult to approach them with a rifle and to secure them when shot. Within a few years some weir fishermen have been obliged at times to patrol the waters in the vicinity of their nets, in order to prevent depredations. In the Cape Rosier region, where some salmon trap fishing is done, seals were very troublesome in the early part of the season of 1896. Mr. George Ames, who set three traps in