THE MACKEREL AND ITS ALLIES. 167 



east as Southern Nova Scotia, while in the Gulf of St. Lawrence they 

 appear late in INIay, and in abundance early in June. 



There appears to be a marked difference between the movements of 

 Mackerel and the menhaden, for while the menhaden are much more 

 gradual in their approach to the shore, and much more dependent upon 

 a small rise of temperature, the Mackerel make their appearance almost 

 simultaneously in all the waters from New Jersey to Nova Scotia at about 

 the same time. Stragglers, of course, appear much earlier than the dates 

 just mentioned; a few Mackerel were observed at Waquoit, jNIass., as 

 early as April 19, 1S71. 



In the fall the Mackerel disappear as suddenly as they came in the 

 spring, but they have only in one instance been observed off the Carolina 

 coast, except during the spring run. This is very probably because no 

 fishing vessels ever visit this region later than June. 



The very vagueness of the statements just made is sufficient to show 

 how little is aclually known about the movements of these fish. The 

 subject must be studied long and carefully before it can be understood, 

 and the intercots of the American fishermen demand that it should be 

 thus studied 



The Mackerel belongs to what may technically be termed pelagic or 

 wandering fish, as their movements, something like those of the herring, 

 are apparently more or less capricious, though probably governed by some 

 definite law, which has not yet been worked out. It moves in large schools 

 or bands, more or less isolated from each other, which sometimes swim 

 near the surface and give distinct evidence of their presence, and at others 

 sink down into the depths of the ocean and are entirely withdrawn from 

 observation. The army offish, however, moves along with a very broad 

 front, a portion coming so close to the shore as to be taken in the weirs 

 and traps along the coast of the Middle States, especially in Vineyard 

 Sound and on Cape Cod ; while at the same time other schools are met 

 with from twenty to fifty miles, or even more, out to sea. It is, however, 

 still a question whether the fish that skirt the coast of the United States 

 enter the Bay of St. Lawrence, or whether the latter belong to another 

 series, coming directly from the deep seas off the Newfoundland and 

 Nova Scotia coast. Until lately the former has been the generally 

 accepted theory, in view of the alleged fact that the fishermen of the 

 Nova Scotia coast always take the fish coming from the west in the spring 

 and from the east in the fall. 



