312 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



species. The first few weeks they spend in the bays. They continue playing at the surface, prey- 

 ing on such schools of small fish or fry as may be present, but at the commencement of July they 

 are less frequently seen, and after another space of two or three weeks are not seen at all, unless 

 caught by trolling- lines at sea, or wh^.u a solitary individual leaps from the water in some remote 

 place. There is a great difference in the. movements of the fish which are ready to spawn and 

 those which have finished spawning: the former keep away from the shore, playing at the surface 

 with no apparent aim, while the latter swim in shoal water near the shore, underneath the sur- 

 face, shaping their course with all possible directness for the harbor mouth. The school, as it 

 moves along, resembles a compact mass of reddish-brown sea-weed. Santa Rosa Island seems to 

 possess attractive features for the Spanish Mackerel, for they are very abundant there. This is a 

 convenient station from which to watch their movements, on account of its narrowness and length. 

 In August, September, and October small schools of Mackerel are seen following the shore along 

 to the sea, and on reaching it they are lost to view in deep water. Many, probably, follow the 

 deep water out of the harbor and are not seen at all, but enough are under observation to signify- 

 when they are 'running' and when the majority are gone." 



As has already been remarked, the Spanish Mackerel is but rarely seen ou the east coast of 

 Florida, though abundant in the Gulf of Mexico. I have never seen one in this region, though the 

 fishermen assure me that a few have been caught, and that small ones are occasionally taken on 

 the bar at the mouth of the Saint John's River. Melton & Co., of Jacksonville, received a quantity 

 from Cedar Keys in 1S7G, and they were exposed for sale in the city markets, where, however, they 

 met with no purchasers. In the Indian River region there is a fish called there the Spanish 

 Mackerel; it perhaps is the Spanish Mackerel, or one of the allied species. 



Holbrook wrote in 1860: "But little is known of the habits of this fish; it seems, however, 

 more solitary than the fishes of this family generally are, as it seldom happens that more than four 

 or five are taken at the same time. It appears on the coast of Carolina in April and May, but is 

 rarely seen during the summer months. It feeds ou various species of small fish." 



Dr. Yarrow wrote in 1873 of this species, as observed in the vicinity of Fort Macon, North 

 Carolina: "They are abundant in the latter part of August and September, and are frequently found 

 with the bluefish. A favorite locality is near the southern point of Shackelford Banks, where it is 

 taken with nets and by hook; a great many are also taken near Cape Lookout in September in 

 gill-nets. Is highly esteemed as food, but is not often eaten fresh, being generally salted. Size 

 from ten to thirty inches." 



Mr. A. N. Simpson stated in 1874 that the species was caught in small quantities in the shoals 

 near Cape Hatteras, though seldom seen in the sounds. 



Dr. Wilkins, of Hunger's Wharf, observed in 1880 that the average weight in that vicinity is from 

 two to three pounds. They arrive about the first of June, and leave about the first of September. 

 Twenty-five years ago it was a very rare occurrence to catch a Mackerel in the Chesapeake Bay, 

 but now they are very plenty. 



Mr. C. R. Moore, of Johnsontown, Virginia., wrote in 1874: "Spanish Mackerel come in Septem- 

 ber and October and stay until frost. They are most numerous about the mouth of the York River, 

 where a large number are caught in seines and salted. They bring about $40 a barrel." 



Professor Baird, who was one of the first to speak of the abundance of this species and to 

 testify to its excellent qualities, wrote in ls.">4 : "But two specimens were taken during my stay at 

 Beasley's Point, and the species is scarcely known to the fishermen. It was more abundant at 

 Greenport, Long Isliaid; in the Peconic Bay, towards Riverhead, four hundred were caught at one 

 haul of the seine. The flesh is excellent, having much the flavor of true Mackerel, only a little 



