THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 429 



When last observed by me (December 11, 1897) it was in the central pool, and 

 apparently, in perfect health. It swam sometimes immediately under the Sand 

 Shark. Its food consists of large pieces of Herring, which it takes readily. 



The only specimen known to have been taken at Cape Cod was caught in a trap 

 in Buzzards Bay at the breakwater in 1894. The example is 34 inches long and 

 weighs about 14 pounds. On account of the ocellated markings at the base of the 

 caudal fin it has sometimes been called the Branded Drum. 



RED DRUM. 



125. Spot ; Lafayette (Leiostomns x ant hums Lacepede). 



Leiostomus xanthurus DEK.AY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 70, 1842, extra limital. 

 Leiostomns xanthurus JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus., 574, 1883. 

 Leiostomus xanthurus BEAN, igth Rept. Comm. Fish. N. Y., 260, 1890 ; Bull. Am. Mus. 



Nat. Hist., IX, 367, 1897. 



Leiostomus xanthurus EUGENE SMITH. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. Y., 1897, 39, 1898. 

 Leiostomus xanthurus MEARNS, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., X, 321, 1898. 

 Mugil obliqims MITCHILL, Rept. Fish. N. Y., 16, 1814, New York. 

 Leiostomus obliquus DEKAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 69, pi. 60, fig. 195, 1842. 



Color bluish above, silvery below ; about 13 to 15 narrow dark lines extending 

 from the dorsal fins downward and forward to below the lateral line ; a roundish 

 black humeral spot about two-thirds as long as the eye ; fins plain olivaceous. 



This little fish was formerly known on the New York coast as Lafayette. 

 Mitchill calls it the Little Porgee. According to DeKay its appearance on the New 

 York coast in the summer of 1824 happened to coincide with the arrival of General 

 Lafayette, and his name was bestowed upon the species. The name Spot is derived 

 from the presence of a dark blotch about as big as the eye near the root of the pec- 

 toral fin. Other names for the species are Goody, Oldwife, Roach and Chub. 



