THE POMPANOES. i 99 



rhodopus, T. fasciatus and G. Kennedyi, are chiefly interesting to 

 naturalists, and will not be discussed at length. The Pompanoes of our 

 Atlantic waters, belonging as they do to a small, strongly specialized 

 genus, are separated from each other by characters not likely to be noticed 

 by casual observers. It is probable that the most unusual of them is more 

 abundant than is now supposed, and that a more careful study of the fauna 

 of the South Atlantic and Gulf States will show that they are frequent 

 visitors. I have myself seen the Carolina and the Round Pompano sold 

 under the same name in Charleston market, just as I have seen the young 

 of four species of the herring family sold together indiscriminately in Ful- 

 ton market, New York. 



The four species, though similar in general appearance, may easily be 

 distinguished by differences in proportions and in the number of fin-rays. 



The commonest and by far the most important form, the Carolina 

 Pompano, Trachynotus carolinus, has the height of the body contained 

 two to two and two-thirds times in the total length ; the length of the head 

 five to five and one-third times ; one of the caudal lobes four times. It 

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

 rays of the dorsal and anal fins, if laid backward, reach to the middle of 

 the fin. 



It 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. 



Like the Spanish mackerel, the squeteague, and the bluefish, it is a sum- 

 mer visitor, appearing in southern Massachusetts in June and July, 

 departing in September. It is emphatically a warm water species. Although 

 it is at present impossible to ascertain the lower limit of its temperature 

 range, it is probable that this corresponds very nearly to that indicated by 

 a harbor temperature of 6o° to 65 Fahr. 



The Pompano has never been known to pass the boundary defined by 

 the low, sandy barrier of Cape Cod and its submarine extension, the 

 Georges Bank. Like the shoals of Hatteras, the broad, slightly submerged 

 sands of this region, with their swirling tides and fluctuations of tempera- 

 ture, forbid the passage of many specier. abundant either to the North or 



