i 4 o AMERICAN FISHES. 



are often eaten, but are not so much sought after; perhaps the cause of this 

 is that they are liable to be infested by parasitic worms. A Drum of sixty 

 pounds, taken at Wood's Holl, Massachusetts, 1S64, was completely rid- 

 dled by nematode worms, neatly encysted among the layers of muscle. 

 Some of them were two feet long, with heads larger than large buck-shot. 



In the Indian River, according to Mr. Clarke, Drum are taken with 

 hooks and crab bait, and with cast-nets. In summer they are caught in 

 the open ocean ; in the winter, in the bays and inlets. Four or five a day 

 is considered good fishing luck. Tides do not affect the fishing. Their 

 flesh is not greatly esteemed. They are sometimes salted, but are chiefly 

 used for compost. " In the Gulf of Mexico," says Stearns, " the Drum is 

 often caught in seines and gill-nets, but is very rarely eaten, as the flesh is 

 dry and tasteless." 



I have often eaten the young fish in Florida. When very fresh, the 

 flavor is sweet and agreeable, though the flesh is very soft. 



In the Carolinas, according to a statement of a correspondent, the roes 

 are considered very delicious, and it is customary for the residents of the 

 coast to salt and dry them and send them " up country " to their friends 

 as a very acceptable present. 



North of Maryland the fish is of little economical importance. In the 

 Chesapeake region, according to Uhler and Lugger, its flesh is much es- 

 teemed, and its roe is a great delicacy ; considerable numbers are brought 

 to the Baltimore markets in spring and fall. 



The scales of the Drum are extensively used in the manufacture of the 

 sprays of flowers and other articles of fancy work which are sold, especially 

 in Florida, under the name of " fish scale jewelry." They are large and 

 silvery, and so hard that it is necessary to remove them from the fish with 

 an axe or hatchet. 



The Drum was known to the Dutch colonists of New York as early as 

 the middle of the seventeenth century, as is shown by references in Steen- 

 dam's poem "In Praise of New Netherland," already referred to. Its 

 name was " Dartien," while the bass was " Twalft," and the shad 

 " Elft " — facts which give endorsement to the old tradition that the early 

 colonists of New Netherland knew only ten kinds of fish and that when 

 the shad came they called it the eleventh kind {Elft) the bass the twelfth 

 (Twalft) and the Drum the thirteenth (Dartien or Dertienen). It is inter- 

 esting to speculate as to which were the ten they first knew. The 



