BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 33 



mouths of an inlet and along the beach weeks before coming inside as 

 those of the latter do, but continue their westward movement without 

 seeming to stop to feed or play until the time has come for a general 

 movement towards the bays. In this way they must be distributed 

 along tlie coast with no unequal accumulation at any one point. When 

 once inside, the numerous schools break up into smaller ones of a dozen 

 or two fish, which are found in all parts of the bay during the summer. 

 On their arrival the larger fish contain spawn, which in July and Au- 

 gust becomes quite full, after which none are seen but the young fish 

 of about 10 inches in length, until there is a general movement towards 

 the sea. It is believed that the adult fish spawn in the bays, but the 

 only evidence to support that belief is that they come inside with spawn, 

 go away without it, and that very young fish are found there. In Oc- 

 tober and November small Hard-tails are caught in Santa Eosa Sound 

 measuring 5 and 6 inches in length. 



"The smallest of the spring run are 9 or 10 inches long. Adult fish 

 measure 12, 11, and 15 inches in length, very rarely more than the last. 

 During the months of October and November Hard-tails leave the bays 

 formed in small schools, and swimming below the surface in deep water. 

 The only time that they can then be seen is when they cross the 'bars' 

 at the inlet or sandy shoals in the bay. A few stragglers remain iu 

 Pensacola Bay and Santa Rosa Sound all winter, which are taken now 

 and then with hook and line. I have found them in abundance iu win- 

 ter on the South Florida coast, where, owing to less variable conditions 

 of the water, their habits are decidedly different. The Hard-tail is a 

 most voracious fish, waging active war upon the schools of small fish. 

 Its movements are rapid, and sometimes in its eagerness it will jumj) 

 high out of the water. It has its enemies also, for I have seen whole 

 schools driven ashore by sharks and porpoises; a great many are de- 

 stroyed in this way. Hard-tails are caught for the market in seines." 



The Goggler. 

 ( Carangus crumeuopthalmus.) 



This fish, called in the Bermudas, where it is of some importance as 

 a food-fish, the "Goggler," or "Goggle-eyed Jack," and in Cuba the 

 "Cicharra," occurs in the West Indies and along the Atlantic coast of 

 the United States north to the Vineyard Sound. It is also found at 

 Mauritius, and in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, the Red Sea, 

 and off the coast of Guinea, while, as has been remarked, it is abundant 

 in the Bermudas. Its large, protruding eyes are very noticeable fea- 

 tures, and the Bermuda name seems appropriate for adoption, since the 

 fish has with us never received a distinctive name. In form it some- 

 what resembles the species last discussed, with which, also, it is prob- 

 ably often confused. 



Stearns speaks of a fish, common at Key West, which is known as 

 the "Horse-eyed Jack," and this may prove to be the same species. 

 Bull. U. S. F. C., 81 3 



