A provisional classification, by habits, of the fishes of our eastern coast might stand somewhat as follows:

I. Wandering or surface fishes.-These remain in our waters only for a short time, their movements being capricious or accidentally directed by the ocean currents, or else in search of food. They do not spawn on our coast, and their young are never seen in our waters.

The best-known examples are the sword-fish (Xiphias gladius), the spear-fish (Tetrapturus albidus), the bonito (Pelamys sarda), the tunny (Orcynus thynnus), the dwarf tunny (Orcynus alliteratus), the ceroes and - Spanish mackerel (Cybium maculatum, C. caballa, and C. regale), the rudder-fishes (Seriola zonata, Naucrates ductor, and Palinurichthys perciformis), the dolphins (Coryphana, two or three species), the remoras (Echeneidida), the barracuda (Sphyræna borealis), the lady-fish (Albula tulpes), the tarpum (Megalops thrissoides), the oceanic sharks, such as Galeocerdo tigrinus, and the numerous waifs from the West Indian fauna. Of these only the sword-fish, bonito, and the ceroes and Spanish mackerel are of economic importance at present.

II. Local or bottom fishes.-These remain in our waters throughout the year, their movements being chiefly to and from the shores, though many of the species move for long distances up and down the coast. They prefer a somewhat uniform temperature, which they secure by going into the shallows in summer and deeps in winter in the northern districts of their distribution, while in their southern districts of distribution these movements are reversed. They spawn on our coast, usually in shallow water and during their shoreward sojourn.

The principal representatives of this group are the goose-fish (Lophius piscatorius), the flounders and flat fishes, the halibut (Hippoglossus vul garis), of whose spawning habits little, however, is known, the lump-fish (Cyclopterus lumpus), and the two species of Liparis, the cod (Gadus morrhua), haddock (Melanogrammus æglefinus), pollock (Pollachius carbonarius), and the hakes (Phycis chuss and P. Americanus), the gurnards and sculpins (Prionotus, sp. and Cottus, sp.), the rose-fishes (Sebastes, sp.), the tautog (Tautoga onitis), and the chogset (Ctenolabrus chogset), the skates, the rays, and the ground-sharks.

III. The coast or ranging fishes.-These are in our coast waters for a portion of the year, and when absent from them are supposed to retreat to the depths of the ocean. When near the shores their movements are a combination of those of the two previous classes, and they wander widely up and down the coast. They spawn upon our continental slope, some entering the rivers, some upon the inshore shallows, and some upon the off shore shoals, their young coming to the shores with the parents. They all are summer visitors in the northern districts of their distribution, though some, like the herring, only appear in New England in the winter.

The best-known examples of this group are, among the river-spawning or anadromous species, the salmon (Salmo salar), the shad (Alosa sap

idissima), the alewife (Pomolobus pseudoharengus), the mattowacca (Pomolobus mediocris), and perhaps the striped bass (Roccus lineatus) and the smelt (Osmerus mordax); among the shore-spawning species, in the north, the capelin (Mallotus villosus), the launce (Ammodytes lanceolatus), and the herring (Clupea harengus); in the south, the scuppaug (Stenotomus argyrops), sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus), the sea-bass (Centropristis atrarius), the atherines (Chirostoma notatum), the mullet (Mugil, sp.), and the mackerel (Scomber scombrus); and among the off shore spawners the pompano (Trachynotus carolinus), the squeteague (Cynoscion carolinensis and C. regalis), the menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus), and probably the bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix).

14.-THE MOVEMENTS OF THE SCHOOLS.

Habits of the schooling fish.

92. Making their appearance in our waters in the early spring, they rapidly increase in abundance until the sea appears to be alive with them. They delight to play in inlets and bays, such as Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, Great Egg Harbor, Long Island, Block Island and the Vineyard sounds, Narragansett Bay, Buzzard's Bay, and the numerous narrow fiords on the coast of Maine. They seem particularly fond of shallow waters protected from the wind, in which, if not molested, they will remain throughout the season, drifting, with the tide, in and out of the shallow indentations of the shore and into the mouths of creeks and rivers. Brackish water attracts them, and they abound at the mouths of streams, especially on the Southern coast. They ascend the Saint John's River more than thirty miles, the Saint Mary's, the Neuse, the York, and Rappahannock. The Potomac they ascend nearly to Washington, a distance of sixty miles, and the Patuxent to Marlborough. In these rivers they come soon after the shad, and are so troublesome to the fishermen that their presence is easily determined.

I am not aware that this difficulty occurs in northern rivers. Professor Baird found them in the Hudson and its tributaries in the summer of 1854.*

They enter the Housatonic late in the summer. I am not aware that they ascend the Connecticut to any considerable distance from its mouth.t They are found in the Mystic, Thames, and Providence Rivers, in the creeks on Cape Cod, in the mouth of the Merrimac River, and in some of the large rivers of Maine, such as the Kennebec and Penobscot.

Boardman and Atkins state that fish caught in the brackish water of the rivers are generally inferior as to fatness, "a fact indicating that they find there a poor feeding ground, and also that their stay there is long enough to affect their condition."

*Fishes of the New Jersey Coast, 1855, p. 34.

This is perhaps due to the swift current of the river. Sea-going vessels fill their water-barrels at Essex, six miles from the bar.

Movements to and from the surface.

93. The arrival of the menhaden is announced by their appearance at the top of the water. They swim in immense schools, their heads close to the surface, packed side by side, and often tier above tier, almost as closely as sardines in a box. A gentle ripple, caused by the motion of the vertical fins, indicates the position of the school, and this may be seen at the distance of nearly a mile by the lookout at the masthead of a fishing-vessel, and is of great assistance to the seine-men in setting their nets. At the slightest alarm the school sinks toward the bottom, and in this way often escapes its pursuers. When sailing over a school of menhaden, swimming a short distance below the surface, one may see their glittering backs beneath, and the boat seems to be gliding over a floor inlaid with blocks of solid silver. At night they are phosphorescent and their backs glow like fire. The motions of the schools seem capricious, and without a definite purpose; at times they swim around and around in circles, at other times they sink or rise. Why they swim at the surface so conspicuous a prey to men, birds, and other fishes, is not known; it does not appear to be for the purpose of feeding; perhaps the fisherman is right when he declares that they are "playing." When they are pursued by other fish they fly in confusion like a flock of frightened sheep, and are often driven in great masses upon the shores.

The swimming habits of menhaden and mackerel.

94. An old mackerel-fisherman thus describes the difference in the habits of the schools of mackerel and menhaden:

"The pogies school differently from mackerel. The pogy slaps with his tail, and in moderate weather you can hear the sound of a school of them as first one, then another, strikes the water. The mackerel go along 'gilling'-that is, putting the sides of their heads out of the water as they swim. The pogies make a flapping sound, the mackerel a rushing sound. You can sometimes, in calm and foggy weather, hear schools of mackerel miles away."

Birds attracted by the schools.

95. They do not attract terns, as do the schools of predaceous fish, for they are too large to be an easy prey for those birds, and they are not in pursuit of crustaceans or smaller fish, which might also serve as food for the small birds. The bluefish and bonitos are attended by eager flocks of gulls and terns, which find a bountiful supply in the remnants of their voracious feasting, floating on the surface in their wake. The fish-hawk (Pandion carolinensis) often hovers over the schooling menbaden, and some of the larger gulls occasionally follow them in quest of a meal. About Cape Cod one of the gulls, perhaps Larus argentatus, is known as the "pogy-gull."

The influence of wind and weather.

96. On warm, calm, sunny days they may always be seen at the surface, but cold or rainy weather, and prevailing northerly or easterly winds, quickly cause them to disappear below the surface. In rough weather they are not so often seen, though schools of them frequently appear at the surface when the sea is too rough for the fishermen to set their nets.

Mr. Atkins and Mr. Dudley agree that the best days for menhadenfishing is when the wind is northwesterly in the morning, dying out in the middle of the day, and then springing up again in the afternoon from the southwest, with a clear sky. At the change of the wind on such a day the menhaden come to the surface in large numbers.

A comparison of the influences of the weather upon the movements of the menhaden and its allied species, the herring, gives some curious results. The herring is a cold-water species. With the advance of summer it seeks the north, returning to our waters with the approach of cold weather. The menhaden prefers a temperature of 600 or more, the herring of 55° and less. When the menhaden desert the Gulf of Maine they are replaced by the herring. Cold weather drives the menhaden to the warmer strata below, while it brings the herring to the surface. The observations of Herr von Freedon, of Hamburg, director of the German See Warte,* are important in this connection. Herr von Freedon made a thorough analysis of the log-books of the luggers engaged in the German herring fishery, and made an elaborate report to the Fishery Commission at Embden upon the influences which affect this fishery, especially the influence of winds and the temperatures of the sea. He has come to the conclusion that northwest winds are the best for large catches, and northerly winds better than southerly, westerly better than easterly; also that moderately strong winds, sufficient to ruffle the surface of the sea, are better than calm weather, and light winds almost as unfavorable as stiff breezes; a ruffling of the sea being, in his opinion, of considerable importance to success in fishing. For the temperatures of the sea, he regards a temperature from 53° to 57° as most favorable, the chances of success diminishing with higher or lower temperatures.

The conditions most favorable, then, for the appearance of herring at the surface are least so for menhaden, it being borne in mind that northwesterly and westerly winds on the east side of the Atlantic correspond to northeasterly and easterly winds upon the west side.

The movements of the herring as influenced by weather.

97. In the "Scotsman" of August 25, 1876 (quoted in "Nature"), is an interesting observation regarding the movements of the herring on the Scottish coast. The surface temperatures of the sea, as determined by the sea-thermometer furnished to the fishermen by the Scottish Meteorologi

* See Report of the Commissioner of the Fishery Board of Scotland, 1875.

cal Society, is regarded to have been from 58° to 59° during the week ending August 19, but on the 21st, when the nets were shot, the temperature had fallen to 550, and this was the first night the herring were caught. They were found low in the nets during the prevalence of warm weather between Northumberland and Peterhead.

"The Meteorological Society of Scotland have for two or three years had this capriciousness in the movements of the herring under special investigation, and in the past year the deep-sea thermometers provided to the society by the Marquis of Tweeddale, its president, for testing the temperature of the sea, were again sent out by the Fishery Board to their oflicers, and the temperature obtained at different periods of the herring fishery. Daily registers of the weather were kept and other particulars furnished to the society, both by the district fishery officers and by Samuel McDonald, esq., commander of the "Vigilant," fishery-cruiser. From the registers and the information thus supplied, the following conclusions have in the mean time been drawn by the committee of the society:

"From the observations of the catch of herrings and the temperature of the sea off the east coast of Scotland, during the two seasons of 1874 and 1875, it is seen (1) that the temperature of the sea from the middle of August to the close of the fishing season was continuously and considerably higher in 1875 than 1874; and (2) that the catch of her rings was continuously and considerably lower during 1875 than during the same period of 1874.

"Another result is this: If there be a district where, from any cause, the temperature of the sea is lower than in surrounding districts, in that district the catch of herrings is heavier; and conversely, if there be a district where, from any cause, the temperature of the sea is higher than in surrounding districts, in that district the catch of herrings is less. Among the causes which bring about a local increase or decrease of sea-temperature, the chief are clouded or clear skies in respective districts, according as these occur during the day or during the night. These local variations in the temperature of the sea in their bearings on the catch of herrings have been shown by the observations both of 1874 and 1875.

"Another important point is the relations of surface temperature to bottom temperature, and the relations of the deepest parts of the sea to the positions of the fishing grounds. It is found, for instance, that when the surface temperature is high-higher than lower down-the fish, if any be caught, strike the nets far down, in such a way as to lead to the supposition that a good deal of failure may often arise from the nets not going deep enough. The fish prefer, apparently, so far as the inquiry has gone, the lower to the higher temperature. The herring committee are most desirous of carrying out this line of inquiry into greater detail, if some of the fishermen could be induced to take the trouble of observing the temperature of the sea at the surface and also at the depth at which the fish strike the nets.