22O Percesoces and Rhegnopteri 



perceptible to the fisherman, who makes no effort at this time 

 to secure the spent, lean fish. Many of them probably find 

 their way to the lakes and others remain wherever they find 

 good feeding-ground, gathering flesh and recruiting strength 

 for the great strain of the next spawning season." 



Professor Goode informs us that the fishermen recognize 

 "three distinct periods of schooling and separate runs of mullet. 

 To what extent these are founded on tradition, or upon the 

 necessity of change in the size of the mesh of their nets, it is 

 impossible to say. The ' June mullet ' average about five to 

 the pound; the 'fat mullet,' which are taken from August 20 

 to October i, weigh about two pounds; these have, the fisher- 

 men say, a 'roe of fat ' on each side as thick as a man's thumb. 

 The ' roe mullet ' weigh about two and a half pounds and are 

 caught in November and until Christmas. Between the seasons 

 of ' fat mullet ' and ' roe mullet ' there is an intermission of 

 two or three weeks in the fishing." Professor Goode hazards 

 the suggestion that "the 'fat mullet' of September are the 

 breeding fish of November, with roes in an immature state, 

 the ova not having become fully differentiated." 



The mullet feed on the bottom in quiet water, swimming 

 head downward. The food is sifted over in the mouth, the 

 mud rejected, and the plants, chiefly microscopic, retained. 

 Mr. Silas Stearns compares a school of mullets to barnyard 

 fowls feeding together. When a fish finds a rich spot the others 

 flock about it as chickens do. The pharyngeals form a sort of 

 filter, stopping the sand and mud, the coarse parts being ejected 

 through the mouth. Dr. Giinther thus describes this apparatus : 

 "The upper pharyngeals have a rather irregular form: they 

 are slightly arched, the convexity being directed toward the 

 pharyngeal cavity, tapering anteriorly and broad posteriorly. 

 They are coated with a thick, soft membrane, which reaches 

 far beyond the margin of the bone and is studded all over 

 with minute horny cilia. Each branchial arch is provided 

 with a series of long gill-rakers, which are laterally bent down- 

 ward, each senes closely fitting to the sides of the adjoining 

 arch; they constitute together a sieve admirably adapted 

 to permit a transit for the water, retaining at the same time 

 every solid substance in the cavity of the pharynx." 



