CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POMPANOES. 327 



twenty-four to twenty-five rays in the second dorsal, while the anterior rays of the dorsal and 

 anal tins, if laid backward, reach to the middle of the fin. 



The Round Pompano (T. ovatus) has the height of the body contained two to two and one-third 

 times in the total length; the length of the head five to five and one-fourth times; one of the 

 caudal lobes three and a half to four times. In the second dorsal are from eighteen to twenty-one 

 rays, in the second anal from sixteen to nineteen, while in the Carolina Pompano there are twenty- 

 one to twenty -two. 



The African Pompano (T. goreensis) resembles in general form the Round Pompano, though 

 somewhat more elongate, while the head is larger, being contained four and a half times in the 

 total length. The anterior rays of the dorsal and anal extend beyond themiddle of the fin, if laid 

 backward. In the number of the fin-rays it corresponds most closely with the Round Pompauo. 



The Banner Pompano ( T. glaucus) has a somewhat elongate body and a small head. It is 

 much thinner than either of the other species. Its silvery sides are marked with four blackish 

 vertical streaks; the best distinguishing mark is in the length of the first rays of the dorsal and 

 anal, which extend back nearly to the tip of the caudal fin. The name Pompano, applied in this 

 country to all of these fishes, is a Spanish word, one of the meanings of which is "grape-leaf." 

 This name is applied in Western Europe to a very different fish. 



THE COMMON POMPANO TRACHYNOTUS CAROLINUS. 



The Common Pompano pr Carolina Pompano occurs in both the Atlantic and Pacific waters 

 of the United States. On our eastern coast it ranges north to Cape Cod, south to Jamaica, east 

 to the Bermudas, and west in the Gulf of Mexico, at least as far as the mouth of the Mississippi 

 River. In the Pacific it is rare, and as yet known only from the Gulf of California, where it has 

 recently been observed by Mr. C. H. Gilbert. 



In our New England and Middle States it is a summer visitor, appearing in June and July, 

 and departing in September. Although it is at present impossible to ascertain the lower limit of 

 its temperature range, it is probable that it corresponds very nearly to that indicated by a harbor 

 temperature of 60 to 65 Fahrenheit. 



This species was described- at an early day by Linna3us from South Carolina, and never had 

 been observed in any numbers north of Cape Hatterd until the summer of 1854, when Professor 

 Baird discovered them near Great Egg Harbor. In his " Report on the Fishes of New Jersey" he 

 states that he had seen them taken by thousands in the sandy coves on the outer beach of Beas- 

 ley's Point. These, however, were young fish, few of them weighing more than half a pound. 

 In 18(53 he obtained both species in Southern Massachusetts, where in subsequent years they 

 have been frequently captured. 



" My first acquaintance with the Pompano in New England," writes Professor Baird, " was in 

 18G3, during a residence at Wood's Holl, where I not unfrequently caught young ones of a few 

 inches in length. I was more fortunate in the summer of 1871, which I also spent at Wood's Holl; 

 then the Pompano was taken occasionally, especially in Captain Spindle's pound, and I received 

 at different times as many as twenty or thirty, weighing about one and one-half or two pounds 

 each. Quite a number were caught in Buzzard's Bay and Vineyard Sound in 1872." 



It is a fair question whether the Pompauo has recently found its way into northern waters, or 

 whether its presence was unknown because nobody had found the way t<> rapture it. When 

 Mitchill wrote on the fishes of New York in 1842 he had access to a single specimen which had 

 been taken off Sandy Hook about the year 1S20. 



The spawning times and breeding grounds of these fishes are not well known. Mr. S. C. 



