194 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 

 60.— DEAIJ FT.^II ON THE COAST OF RHODE ISLAND. 



By MKtCBCRT M. giWOWI.ES. 



[From a Iftter to Prof. B. F. Baird.] 



About the 1st of July hundreds of barrels of small dead fisb were 

 driven asliore about 12 miles west of Point Judith. The papers described 

 them as small herring. Similar phenomena are reported from the coast 

 of l^^orth Carolina. For the last three weeks immense schools of these 

 fish have been near the shores of Point Judith. They are about three 

 inches long and resemble small hickory shad. I have seen them so 

 thick in the water, which was about IG feet deep, that the fish on top 

 had to swim on their sides, being literally forced into that position by 

 the mass below. 



The point I wish to call attention to is this, that while these fish have 

 been round these shores some little time, no dead ones were seen until 

 the morning after a thunder-storm, the first to occur while the fish were 

 here. Our old fishermen believe that thunder will sometimes kill fish, 

 but I have hitherto regarded that as one of their many superstitious. 

 During the last two weeks I have caught over a ton of bluefish, and 

 ui)on examination I find that they are not particularly fond of tlie bait, 

 as their "pokes" contained squid and whiting. The thunder-storm 

 occurred at 1 a. m. on the 8th instant, and at sunrise large quantities 

 of the bait were dead, large windrows of them cast upon the shore for 

 an eighth of a mile distant, and the bottom all white with them in fif- 

 teen feet of water. 



I inclose clippings irom two papers. The oily scum referred to in the 

 second was not seen at Point Judith until after the dead fish, and it 

 may be that it was caused by the decomposition of the fish 



United States Life-Saving Station, 



Point Jvdiili, R. J., July 11, 18S0. 



CiiAltLESTUWN, \i. 1. — An immense quantity of dead fish were swept 

 by the tide into Charlestown reach on tlune 18. The fish are strangers 

 to this locality, no one knowing what they are. They are about two 

 inches long, and are of the herring species. The channel connecting 

 Charlestown Pond with the sea was literally lined with them. It is 

 estimated that there were from 200 to 400 cartloads of the fish swei)t in, 

 and the beach was also lined with them. Large quantities of them have 

 been secured by the farmers for manure. They are fast decomposing, 

 and the stench from them is almost unbearable. Where they came 

 from and what killed th<'m remains a mystery. [Piom the Providence 

 Journal, Providence, E. I., June 2,'J, 1880. | 



An oily PHENOMENON. — The people in the vicinity of Paleigh, N. 

 C, are perplexexl over a phenomenon that is observed along the south- 

 eastern coast of the State. An oilv scum on the water extends for sev- 



