1^ INLAND FISHERIES. 



and toward the end of the century in which no mention is made of the 

 blue-fish, and which may probably indicate its absence, as during that 

 time there were many works published relating to the local history and 

 domestic economy of New England, and which would doubtless have 

 taken note of so conspicuous a fish had it been present. 



" Whether they existed uninterruptedly during the century interven- 

 ing between Josselyn's time 1672 (or even 1659, according to Macy) 

 and 1764, 1 am at present unable to say. According to Captain Pease, 

 they were known about Edgartown at the end of the last century/ As 

 already stated, Mr. Mitchell speaks of their first making their appear- 

 ance in New York about 1810. They are noted as having been seen in 

 Vineyard Sound again as early as 1820. It would therefore appear 

 that they were in such small numbers about New York in 1810 that the 

 young only were noticed flocking about the wharves, and that in ten 

 years they were observed as far east as Nantucket, where the speci- 

 mens seen from 1824 to 1826 were very small, not over four inches. 

 The next year they measured seven and the third year ten inches, 

 according to the testimony of one witness, although this does not rep- 

 resent, in all probability, the rate of growth, 



"According to Captain Burgess, of Monument, Massachusetts, they 

 were caught about Nantucket in 1825, and were very abundant in 

 1830. Dr. Storer states the first blue-fish recorded as having been no- 

 ticed in the present century north of Cape Cod was captured on the 

 25th of October, 1837. Captain Atwood remarks that in 1838 he saw 

 blue-fish for the first time about Provincetowu. These were very small, 

 the largest weighing only two pounds. In a few years, however, they 

 became larger and more numerous, and finally increased to such an ex- 

 tent as to exercise a very marked influence upon the fisheries. Accord- 

 ing to the captain (Proceedings of Boston Society of Natural History, 



1 President Dwight bears witness to the fact that blue-fish were abundani in the Jsarragansett 

 Bay region as late as 1780. "The mackerel formerly frequented this coast in immense numbers, 

 and in the season were constantly to be found in the market. But about the close of the Revolu- 

 tionary W^ar they forsook our waters and have not made, their appearance since. They were 

 esteemed a great delicacy, and are the largest of the mackerel species."— Note on Fishes of New- 

 port, Rhode Island. Dwight'a Travels, iii., 1822, p. 50. 



