THE MACKEREL AND ITS ALLIES. 179 



In the summer of 1S79, however, during the stay of the Fish Commis- 

 sion at Provincetown, a considerable school of these fish came into the 

 harbor and were taken in company with the Tinker Mackerel. None 

 were observed there in 1880, however, and it remains to be seen whether 

 they have returned to be again counted among the permanent members of 

 the fauna. This fish, during the period of its abundance on our coast, 

 was considered an excellent article of food, and was by many preferred to 

 the common Mackerel. On account of its small size, however, it was not 

 so much sought after by the fishermen. 



Concerning the Mackerel of the Pacific coast, which Prof. Jordan con- 

 siders to be identical with the Scojnber pneiiniatophortis of the Eastern 

 Atlantic, this authority writes : 



"The Tinker Mackerel, S. pneumatopliorus, is known as 'Mackerel,' 

 'Easter Mackerel,' 'Tinker Mackerel' and 'Little Mackerel.' It reaches 

 a length of about fourteen inches. It ranges northward to Monterey Bay, 

 appearing in the fall in irregular and often large schools, usually disap- 

 pearing in November. Some years few or none are seen. It is a good 

 food-fish, but little attention is paid to it, on account of its small size and 

 irregular occurrence." 



The Mackerel is the principal rival of the cod in the claim for highest 

 rank among the food-fishes of North America. Many thousands of men 

 and many hundreds of vessels are employed in their capture, and their 

 migrations in which they are followed by fleets of swift schooners, are the 

 subject of annual discussion in the halls of Congress, and the disputes of 

 the sailor-fishermen of Canada and New England have long been made the 

 subject of treaty and international convention. 



The statistics and methods of the commercial fisheries have been fully 

 discussed in a volume entitled "Materials for a History of the Mackerel 

 Fishery," prepared by Messrs. Goode, Collins, Earll and Clarke and printed 

 by the U. S. Fish Commission in 18S3, and will be but briefly alluded to 

 here. It seems proper, however, to refer to the history of the various modes 

 of capture employed by our fishermen. 



The method chiefly practiced by the colonists of New England was that 

 of drag-seining, and we find as early as 1626 a record of the establish- 

 ment, by Isaac Allerton, of a fishing station at Hull, where mackerel were 

 seined by moon-light. There can be little doubt that the practice of 

 fishing with baited hooks were also early introduced, and that in the 



