BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 37 



Ronud Pampano, though somewhat more elongate, while the head is 

 larger, being contained four and a half times in the total length. The 

 anterior rays of the dorsal and anal extend beyond the middle of the 

 fin, if laid backward. In the number of the fin rays it corresponds most 

 closely with the Kouud Pompano. 



The Banner Pompano ( T. glaueus) has a somewhat elongate body and 

 a small head. It is much thinner than either of the other species. Its 

 silvery sides are marked with four blackish vertical streaks ; the best 

 distinguishing mark is in the length of the first rays of the dorsal and 

 anal, which extend back nearly to the tip of the caudal fin. The name 

 Pompano, applied in this country- to all of these fishes, is a Spanish 

 word, meaning "grape leaf." The word in Western Europe is applied 

 to a very different fish. 



The Common Pompano. 



The Common, or Carolina, Pompano ( Trachynotus carolinus) occurs in 

 both the Atlantic and Pacific waters of the United States. On our east- 

 ern coast it ranges north to Cape Cod, south to Jamaica, east to the 

 Bermudas, and west to the Gulf of Mexico, at least as far as the mouth 

 of the Mississippi Eiver. 



In our iSTew England and Middle States it is a summer visitor, ap- 

 pearing in June and July and departing in September. Although it is at 

 present imx)ossible to ascertain the lower limit of its temperature range, 

 it is probable that it corresponds very nearly to that indicated by a har- 

 bor temperature of 60° to 65'^. 



This species, like the Round Pomjiano, was described by Linnaeus 

 from South Carolina, and never had been observed in any numbers north 

 of Cape Hatteras until the summer of 1854, when Professor Baird dis- 

 covered them near Great Egg Harbor. In his " Report on the Fishes of 

 New Jersey " he states that he had seen them taken by thousands in the 

 sandy coves on the outer beach of Beesley's Point. These, however, 

 were young fish, few of them weighing more than half a pound. In 1863 

 he obtained both species in Southern Massachusetts, where in subsequent 

 years they have been frequently caj^tured. 



" My first acquaintance with the Pompano (New England)," writes 

 Professor Baird, "was in 1863, during a residence at Wood's Holl, 

 where I not unfrequently caught young ones of a few inches in length. 

 I was more fortunate in the summer of 1871, which I also spent at 

 Wood's Holl ; then the Pompano was taken occasionally, especially in 

 Captain Spindle's pound, and I received at different times as many as 

 20 or 30, weighing about IJ pounds or 2 j)ounds each. Quite a number 

 were caught in Buzzard's Bay and Vineyard Sound in 1872." 



It is a fair question whether the Pompano has recently found its way 

 into northern waters, or whether its presence was unknown because 

 nobody had found the way to capture it. When Mitchell wrote on the 



