62 BULLETIN or THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



the Branch herring, as compared to the Glut herring, and the bad 

 flavor arise from the mixing of the spawn? They taste as much like 

 a Hickory jack as a Glut herring, and from the above facts 1 strongly 

 suspect a cross. They do not diminish in numbers on account of the 

 war made on the herring by man as other herrings do. May not that 

 arise from the fact that their spawn in the branches is not disturbed 

 by gill-nets and otherwise as is that of the Glut herring in the river ? 



The Glut herring is but little more than half the size of a full grown 

 Branch herring and is far superior in flavor. It has a small, round, 

 black eye, and never ascends the branches. Fifty years ago Ave had five 

 distinct gluts or varieties of herring. First, the Branch herring. 

 Second, the common Glut herring, early in Ai)ril, afterwards later in 

 April, and for the last three years (1875) not at all in April. Third, 

 the Poplar-back, named from the fact that their backs were the color 

 of yellow poplar. There are none to be seen now. Fourth, the Dun- 

 bellies, so called from the fact that their sides have a yellowish appear- 

 ance as if gold dust had been sprinkled over them and then rubbed in. 

 A few of those remain yet. Fifth, in the latter part of the season, 

 which formerly began the 10th or 15th of May, we were regularly visited 

 with a small, fat, and delicious herring called the " May Flipper," 

 owing to the fact that they jumi)ed and flipped the water higher than 

 any of the rest. That fish no longer appears in gluts. 1 occasionally 

 see a few with other kinds. I have always thought this due to the 

 young herring coming on a year sooner than they now do, for they were 

 exactly like them. 



Our fisheries for the last fifty years have been gradually growing- 

 later. Then the shad and herring fisheries commenced about the 15th 

 to the 25th of March and ended about the 1st of May. Now they 

 commence a month later and end about the 25th of May. For the last 

 thirty years there has been a gradual decrease of fish in the Potomac, 

 owing, as I belie\e, to two causes — first, the immense quantity taken 

 out, principally by the gill-nets; secondly', by the dragging of seines 

 and gill-nets over the bottom, destroying the spawn. A giller will tell 

 you that his net does not reach to the bottom, but a few figures will 

 disprove that assertion. In the first place they have to sink their nets 

 some 15 feet below the surface, letting them down with cords and cork, 

 in order to allow the large coal vessels to pass over without hanging 

 the nets. Then the seines are at least 20 feet deep, and the average 

 depth of the Potomac is about 25 to 30 feet. At Fort Foote, Fort Wash- 

 ington, the White House, and just above Indian Head, the river spreads 

 out very wide, and becomes shallow from Indian Head downwards. It 

 is equally as certain that the lead-line of a seine destroys all the spawn 

 that it comes in contact with. There are now 24 seines in all. Now, 

 let us suppose that they will average 100 acres each, and destroy 

 every spawn deposited thereon. There are 2,400 acres upon which the 

 spawn is entirely destroyed. The estimate is that there are 500 gill* 



