296 



AMERICAN FISHES. 



visits the shore for a day or so and then returns. To my mind this is a 

 more reasonable way of accounting for his presence than to assume that he 

 has been left behind. If these facts are as stated, it is to be presumed 

 that scup are local fish, and do not have their localities any more than 

 Tautog, about the propriety of classification of which as a local fish there 

 is no question." 



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"y' r ^.. 



'^^i^w, 



39^ 



THE CHOGSET. 



The Chogset, or Cunner, or Bergall, Ctenolabrus adspersus, is very simi- 

 lar in appearance to the Tautog, though much smaller and far less 

 important. Its range is more northerly. I can find no record of its 

 occurrence south of New Jersey. DeKay remarks : " I am not aware that 

 it is found south of Delaware Bay." From New York to the Straits of 

 Canso the species is exceedingly a'Dundant, being found everywhere in 

 harbors and bays, particularly in the vicinity of fish houses, where offal is 

 thrown overboard. Cuvier had specimens from Newfoundland, but it 

 abounds on the coast of Labrador. It is closely related to the " Gold- 

 sinny," Ctenolabrus rupestris, and the "Connor" or " Gilt-head," 

 Crenilabrus melops, of Great Britain and adjoining Europe. It has 

 numerous conraon names. In Southern New England it is called " Chog- 

 set," a name of Indian origin, sometimes pronounced Cachogset. This 

 name appears to have been in occasional use as far west as New York, 

 where, in Mitchill's time, it was also called " Bluefish." In Maine, the 

 British Provinces, and in some parts of Massachusetts the name " Cunner " 

 is in use, evidently having been brought over by the English colonists 

 who remembered a very similar fish at home which has this name. In 

 New York, the name " Burgall " has continued in use since the revo- 



