« > ,u - * ?. V * r. « ti i- ^. » :■ J i J , » « 



' T^^*^^??^- ■ 



THE STRIPED MULLET. 



THE MULLETS. 



Still shall be heard the loons lone cry 

 Upon the stream, and to their rest 

 Long troops of curlews seaward fly. 

 At sunset to their sandy nest. 

 Still joyous from the sparkling tide 

 With silver sides shall Mullets leap 

 The eagle soar in wonted pride, 

 And by their eyrie strong and wide 

 On the dry oak beside the deep, 

 Their watch shall busy ospreys keep. 



William J. Grayson : T/ic River Coosa. 



{~\^ our eastern coast there are two species oi Mugil, the differences be- 

 ^^^tween which are sometimes, though not always recognized by fishermen. 

 The most familiar is the Striped Mullet, Mugil alhula ; the other is 

 the so-called "White Mullet," Mugil brasiliensis. The former is the 

 larger, and has eight instead of nine rays in the anal fin, and forty-two 

 instead of thirty-eight scales between the gill openings and the base of the 

 caudal fin. There has been so much confusion among writers regarding 

 the species of this family upon our coast that it has until very recently 

 been impossible to define precisely their geographical range. The 

 Striped Mullet occurs in the West Indies, the Gulf, and from Lower Cali- 

 fornia to Peru. A single specimen of M. brasiliensis, was taken at 

 Provincetown, in November, 1851. North of New Jersey the capture of 

 a large individual is very unusual. In July great numbers of them, about 

 an inch in length, have been observed on the Connecticut coast, especially 

 in the vicinity of Noank ; the fishermen there call them by the name of 



