UNUTILIZED FISHES. 9 



to be counted exactly, the relative terms tk little," " moderate," and 

 " much " were used in the record, " little " meaning that there was 

 sufficient quantity to be identified, " moderate " that at least one- 

 fourth of the stomach was filled, and " much " that the stomach was 

 well filled with the species or substance indicated. The data thus 

 obtained were tabulated to show the date and locality of capture of 

 the fish, number of specimens (fishes) examined, and the number of 

 specimens containing each kind of food. The form of tabulation 

 adopted is that of Dr. Peck (1896), excepting the addition of the 

 locality. 



REVIEW OF LITERATURE OF THE FOOD OF FISHES. 



Notwithstanding the importance of the subject, study of the food 

 of fishes has not been very extensive, and the literature is very 

 meager. Verrill and Smith (1873) have given a list of invertebrate- 

 animals found in the stomachs of fishes taken in Vineyard Sound. 

 Peck (1894) made a study " On the food of the menhaden," which 

 species he found to be entirely dependent upon micro-organic mate- 

 rial filtered from the water by means of specially modified gillrakers. 

 In a later paper (1896) he shows that ultimately all fishes are depend- 

 ent, either directly or indirectly, upon this micro-organic material. 

 He characterized the food of the squeteague by this concrete instance : 



On the morning of July 23 there was taken a large specimen whose stom- 

 ach contained an adult herring. In the stomach of the herring were found two 

 young scup (hesides many small Crustacea), and in the stomach of one of these 

 scup were found copepods, while in the alimentary tract of these last one 

 could identify one or two of the diatoms and an infusorian test among the mass 

 of triturated material which formed its food. This is an instance of the uni- 

 versal rule of this*kind of food; the squeteague captures the butterfish or squid, 

 which in turn have fed on young fish, which in their turn have fed upon the 

 more minute Crustacea, which finally utilize a microscopic food supply. 



These two papers of Dr. Peck are probably the most serious con- 

 tributions that we now have on the food of fishes. Peterson 

 (1893) devotes a portion of one chapter in his paper to the food of 

 the flatfishes. Kendall (1898) treats of the food of a few of the more 

 important members of the cod family, commercially the most valua- 

 ble group of fishes found on our Atlantic coast. His purpose was 

 to explain " the phenomena of the withdrawal of certain fishes from 

 a region where they have been abundant, the presence of large num- 

 bers one year and their scarcity the next, their disappearance for 

 long periods and their sudden reappearance." The paper consists 

 chiefly of a record of an examination of the stomach contents of 

 numerous specimens taken on the shores of the New England States 

 and the Canadian maritime provinces. Mcintosh (1899) in his 

 introductory chapter gives a " general review of the resources of the 

 sea and the influence of man thereon." He emphasizes Dr. Peck's 

 506—07 2 



