progression in the water. Those attached to the pectoral are often nearly as long as the fin itself. A series of large shield-like scales cover the bases of these fins, apparently with the same object as the axillary scales. These are particularly large in the species from the Gulf of Mexico. Scales. 50. The scales are, in the young fish, arranged in comparatively regu lar rows. In adult specimens of the Brevoortia tyrannus all semblance of regularity disappears, and it is impossible to count either longitudinal or vertical rows. The number of scales is enormously increased, apparently by the growth of additional scales in the interspaces between those already arranged in regular order. The number of scales in the longitudinal rows is from 60 or 70 in young individuals, to 110 in adults; in the vertical rows, 25 or 26. 10.-INTERNAL ORGANS. Gill-strainers. 51. There are no vestiges of teeth in the mouths of any members of the genus Brevoortia. These fish do not feed upon living animals, and teeth would be useless to them. Their place is supplied by an arrangement of setiform appendages, attached to the anterior edges of the arches supporting the gills. These are closely set, flexible, and in Brevoortia tyrannus about 170 in number on each side of each of the arches. There being thus four rows upon each side of the mouth, there must be in the mouth of the menhaden from 1,400 to 1,500 of these thread-like bristles, from one-third to three quarters of an inch long. These may be so adjusted that they form a very effective strainer, much resembling that of the right whale. This strainer is much finer and more effective than in the whale, the number of bristles being much more numerous than are the plates of baleen in the mouth of the right whale. The uses to which this strainer is applied will be discussed below, in paragraphs 119-125. The accessory branchial organ. 52. There is also a curious accessory branchial organ, situated between the top of the fourth branchial arch and the base of the skull. This has been described from dissections of a fish identified as Clupanodon aureus, Spix, in a paper by Prof. Joseph Hyrtl,* cited in full in the Bibliography. The alimentary canal. 53. The alimentary canal in the menhaden is peculiar. The pharynx is continued, in a straight canal, to the point of the siphonal stomach, which extends backward nearly to the posterior extremity of the intestinal cavity, then turning at an acute angle returns nearly to the * Denkschriften Kaiserl. Akad. Wiss. Mat.-Nat. Class, vol. x, 1855, p. 49. head, where it expands into a globular pear-shaped muscular organ with thick walls, which have their inner surfaces rugose, like those of the gizzard of a gallinaceous bird. At the anterior end of the stomach is a mass of fine, filiform, pyloric appendages, surrounding the origin of the intestine, which is very long and is arranged in two coils, one upon each side of the stomach, enveloping it completely. The length of the intestine is five or six times that of the whole fish. The swim-bladder. 54. The swim bladder is small and inconspicuous. Its walls are thin. It is not probable that it contains enough gelatine to be of commercial importance. Hyrtl was unable to detect its presence in the fish studied by him as Clupanodon aureus, but which was probably something very different. III.-GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND MOVEMENTS. 11.-GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE. Limits in 1877. 55. It is not easy to define exactly the boundaries of geographical range for any species, unless they be marked by some impassable boundary. It is especially difficult in the case of fishes. The limits of their wanderings appear to depend directly or indirectly upon temperature, and to vary considerably, from season to season, with the seasonal variations in the mean temperature of the water. As nearly as it can conveniently be expressed the range of the northern menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus, is as follows: it is to be found at some period during the year in the coastal waters of all the Atlantic States from Maine to Florida (approximately between the parallels of north latitude 25° and 45°); on the continental side it is limited approximately by the line of brackish water; on the ocean side, by the inner boundary of the Gulf Stream. What may be the limits of its winter migrations it is impossible to say. A surface temperature of about 510 is necessary for its appearance in waters near the shores. Variations of the northern limit in the past. 56. Its northern limit of migration seems to have always been the Bay of Fundy. Perley, writing in 1852, stated that they were sometimes caught in considerable numbers in weirs within the harbor of Saint John's, N. B.* *Descriptive Catalogue (in part) of the fishes of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, by M. H. Perley, esq., Her Majesty's emigration officer at St. John's, New Brunswick. (Second edition.) Fredericton: J. Simpson, Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, 1852, p. 30. Mr. G. A. Boardman, of Calais, Me., informs me that large schools have been seen during the summer in Passamaquoddy Bay and the lower Bay of Fundy. James Lord, of Deer Island, Charlotte County, N. B., testified before the Halifax Commission that he had taken porgies in the neighborhood of Campo Bello, but that none had been seen there for ten years or more.* Mr. J. F. Whiteaves declares that of late years none have been found in New Brunswick, nor to the north of Grand Manan.f The claim of Professor Hind that they have been found as far north as Canso, is not, to my knowledge, supported by satisfactory evidence. At present the eastward wanderings of the schools do not appear to extend beyond Isle au Haut and Great Duck Island. These islands are less than forty miles westward of the boundary of Maine and New Brunswick. Southern limit of range. 57. Dekay supposed the southern limit of the menhaden to be in the neighborhood of Chesapeake Bay, but it has for some years been known that they occur in great abundance on the coast of North Carolina. I found them to be abundant in the Saint John's River, Florida, in March and April, 1874 and 1875, and it is quite certain that they are found there throughout the winter. In the National Museum are specimens (Catalogue No. 7696) collected at Indian River by Mr. Wurdemann. Mr. Charles Dougherty, of New Smyrna, Fla.,. tells me that he has observed numerous large schools during the winter in the open ocean off Cape Canaveral and Mosquito Inlet. Old fishermen from Key West, who are perfectly familiar with the fish, assure me that it is never seen about the Florida Keys. Oceanic limits of range. 58. Beyond these bounds nothing certain is known. The thorough and indefatigable labor of the twenty years during which Professor Poey has been investigating the ichthyology of Cuba justifies us in taking his word that the menhaden is not found in those waters. It has not been found at any other point in the West Indies, nor is it recorded from the coast of South America, though other species of the same genus have been found there. The investigations of Mr J. Matthew Jones and myself have failed to discover it about the Bermuda Islands, and it appears to be unknown to the fishermen at that point. Menhaden in the Gulf of Mexico. 59. Mr. S. H. Wilkinson, keeper of Cat Island light-house, Mississippi Sound, writes that no fish resembling the menhaden is found in *Proceedings Halifax Commission, 1877, Appendix F, p. 245. + Sixth Report Department of Marine and Fisheries, Appendix U, p. 195. those waters; and a similar statement is made by Capt. D. P. Kane, of the Matagorda light-station, Texas, who is a native of Maine, and has been engaged in pogy-fishing in that State. He has for the past eight years been engaged on the coast from Florida to Mexico, and has never seen menhaden or heard of their being caught south of Cape Hatteras, with one exception. Capt. William Nichols, pilot, residing in Saluria, Tex., informed Captain Kane that in September, 1872, great quantities of pogies drifted upon the beach at Saluria, and that the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Matagorda Bay were full of them. Capt. William E. Spicer, of Noank, Conn., is positive that he has encountered schools of these fish while seining for the Mobile market off Tampa, Fla. These statements probably refer to the Gulf menhaden, recently discovered at various points in the northern Gulf of Mexico, and easily distinguished from the northern species. Range of other species. 60. On the coasts of Brazil and at Montevideo occurs a geographical race of our northern species, the Brevoortia tyrannus, aurea, while still farther south, in the waters of Buenos Ayres, is another species, Brevoortia pectinata. The latter was first taken by Charles Darwin, on his memorable voyage around the world, in a net on a sand-bank at Bahia Blanca (latitude 39° S). Very probably the species is abundant along the coasts of the Argentine Republic, in the broad mouth of the Rio de la Plata, and from the analogy of our species, well up the southern coasts of Brazil, perhaps to Rio Janeiro. It is not unlikely that the eastern coast of South America is as abundantly supplied as our own with these most valuable fishes. Valenciennes states that the Portuguese of South America call the Brevoortia aurea by the name Savega. Again, on the coasts of West Africa occurs a species, Brevoortia dorsalis, closely resembling the menhaden. An old fisherman in Maine told me that he had seen the menhaden in immense quantities on the western coast of Africa, where the negroes spear them and eat them. Illustrations and descriptions of all the known American species are given elsewhere in this memoir. Alleged occurrence on the Pacific coast. 61. The Hon. S. L. Goodale, of Saco, Me., writing under date October 25, 1877, states that some menhaden fishermen of Bristol, Me., have recently sent one of their number to prospect for them on the Pacific coast, and that his reports were so favorable that several of them with their families had left a few weeks previously for Washington Territory, where they were informed that "pogies" were abundant. If this report be true, it is quite certain that the explorers are doomed to disappointment. No fish resembling the menhaden occurs in the Pacific Ocean. It should be noted, however, that wherever representatives of this genus of fishes occur there is doubtless an opportunity for establishing new industries of great value. It would be well worth while for enterprising fishermen to investigate this subject. The Government of Japan has recently employed one of the best informed of our New England fishermen to instruct the natives of that country in the arts of catching and preserving food-fishes. * As has already been stated, there are abundant supplies of these fish on both sides of the South Atlantic. There is apparently no reason why extensive manufacturing interests may not be inaugurated in Brazil, the Argentine Republic, Paraguay, and Africa. 12. THE ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE OF THE SCHOOLS. Causes influencing times of arrival and departure. 62. The date of the earliest appearance of the schools of menbaden at any given point upon the coast corresponds very closely with that of the arrival of scup, shad, bluefish, and other of the non-resident summer species. It depends primarily upon the temperature of the water. element is of more importance, perhaps, in the case of the menhaden than with the carnivorous fishes, since the food-supply of the former is not likely to be affected by changes of temperature. There are other questions to be considered, such as the movements of hostile species and the direction of the prevailing winds, though the latter may, perhaps, be merged in the question of temperature. Their departure is regulated by the same causes, though, since their food-supply is less uncertain, they linger later in our waters than most of their companion species of the spring. Material available for the determination of dates. 63. The material for determining the movements of the schools is very unsatisfactory, though perhaps of necessity so. Although many of our correspondents give dates of arrival and departure, these are understood to be merely approximations to the truth. The only series of observations showing the dates of the arrival of menhaden for a period of several successive years is one from the Waquoit weir, and this professes to show nothing except the date at which the fish began to be abundant. In the nature of the case, observations of a more definite nature are impracticable. Since so little that is definite can be recorded, it may be desirable to review the statement, of some of our correspondents, thus putting on record a series of observations all carefully made and many of them extending over a long period of years. In this way the movements of the menhaden at different points upon the coast will be described more accurately and graphically than they could be by any compiled account, however carefully it might be prepared. It is *Capt. U. S. Treat, of Eastport, Me. |