THE FOOD AND GAME FISHES OF NEW YORK. 427 



123. Yellow Tail ; Silver Perch (Bairdiella cJirysura Lacepede). 



Bodianus argyroleucus MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 417, pi. 6, fig. 9, 1815, 



New York. 



Corvina argyroleucas DEKAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 74, pi. 18, fig. 51, 1842, New York. 

 Homoprion xanthurus HOLBROOK, Ichth. S. C., ed. i, 170, pi. 24, 1856 (not Leiostomus 



xanthuriis LACEPEDE). 

 Bairdiella chrysura GOODE, Fish. & Fish. Ind. U. S., I, 375, pi. 126, 1884 ; BEAN, Bull. 



U. S. F. C., VII, 141, pi. I, fig. 9, 1888 ; i 9 th Kept. Coram. Fish. N. Y., 259, 1890 ; 



Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., IX, 367, 1897 ; JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. 



Nat. Mus., 1433, 1888, pi. CCXXII, fig. 566, 1900; BEAN, 5 2 d Ann. Kept. N. Y. 



State Mus., 106, 1900. 



SPOTTED WEAK FISH. 



Greenish above, silvery below, each scale with series of dark punctulations 

 through the center, usually very conspicuous, sometimes obscure, these forming 

 narrow somewhat irregular streaks along the sides ; fins plain, the caudal yellowish. 



Dr. Mitchill describes this fish as the Silver Perch, and DeKay explains the ori- 

 gin of this name from the resemblance which the Yellow Tail bears in its appear- 

 ance and habits to the common White Perch. At Pensacola, Fla., the name 

 Mademoiselle is applied to the species. In Great South Bay we heard the name 

 Lafayette given it, but this belongs more properly to the Spot, Liostomus xantJiurus. 



The Yellow Tail occurs on our coast from Cape Cod to Florida. It was a com- 

 mon fish in Great South Bay in September, 1890, and during the early part of 

 October, occurring at Blue Point Cove, at the Blue Point Life Saving Station, 

 Great River Beach and Fire Island. It is frequently taken in the pounds. In 1898 

 the young were found in abundance at Nichols's Point, Great South Bay, September 

 i. In 1901 the species was not observed at all during a season extending from the 

 middle of July to the middle of October, 



The breeding season must continue into early summer, as many young fish from 



