596 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



repute, the hard scales and stiff, sharp spines making it incon- 

 venient to prepare for cooking. 



Dr Mitchill describes a yellow variety of the cunner, and De 

 Kay has considered the young, which has a black spot on the 

 anterior portion of the dorsal fin, as a distinct species, named by 

 him the spotted bergall. 



The young vary greatly in color. We have seen some dull 

 brown, others that were yellowish, and still others of a bright 

 green. Dusky bands are characteristic, also, of the young 

 stages. Examples were taken at Blue Point cove and at Fire 

 Island, The cunner is a permanent resident, and does not 

 retreat into deep water except in very cold weather. Its spawn- 

 ing takes place in June and July. The species is fished for with 

 the hook, and is taken in nets, which are baited and set among 

 the rocks. The catch of the Irish cunner boats of Boston has 

 been estimated at about 300,000 pounds annually. 



Genus tautoga Mitchill 

 Body long, not elevated nor greatly compressed. Head large, 

 nearly as deep as long, with a convex profile. Mouth rather 

 small. Teeth very strong, conical, in two series; the outer 

 somewhat incisorlike; the two anterior teeth in each jaw 

 strong; the posterior teeth small, without canines. Eye small, 

 high up. Cheeks with small scales; interopercle naked; opercles 

 naked, except above; scales on body rather small, in about 60 

 transverse series, those on ventral region reduced in size; lat- 

 eral line continuous, abruptly decurved opposite the end of the 

 soft dorsal. Dorsal fin long, low, continuous, the spinous part 

 much the longer, with about 16 low, strong, subequal spines, 

 each with a small cutaneous appendage at tip; soft dorsal higher 

 than spinous; anal similar to soft dorsal, with three stout, 

 graduated spines; pectorals broad and rather short; caudal 

 short, truncate, with rounded angles; the soft parts of the ver- 

 tical fins with the membranes somewhat scaly; ventrals con- 

 spicuously behind pectorals. Branchiostegals five. Gill rakers 

 very short and feeble; gill membranes somewhat connected, free 

 from the isthmus. Vertebrae 16+18=34. This genus contains 

 a single species, a large Labroid, abundant on the Atlantic coast 

 of the United States. 



