14 INLAND FISHERIES. 



it became more and more numerous, until now it is very abundant. 

 Several accounts agree in reference to the very large size (even to forty 

 or fifty pounds) of those taken in the last century. 



" Further research into ancient records may tend to throw more light 

 on the early history of the blue-fish, and even materially to change the 

 conclusions already reached. It will be observed that the references 

 to its occurrence, from 1780 to 1800, are on the testimony of aged per- 

 sons who have heard their fathers speak of it, although I find no 

 printed records anywhere in reference to it between 1764 and 1810. 

 The rate of progression to the north of Cape Cod I have at present no 

 means of indicating, although they probably gradually extended farther 

 and farther north, and may possibly occur much farther east than we 

 have any mention of at present. 



*' During the present century the maximum of abundance of these 

 fish off the middle coast of the United States appears to have been 

 reached from 1850 to 1860. The testimony elicited from various parties, 

 as well as from printed records, indicates a decrease since that period 

 much greater in some localities than others. About New York they 

 are said to have been unusually plenty in the summer of 1871, but 

 farther East the diminution which had been observed in previous years 

 appeared to continue.** 



Since the writing of the above, in 1871, there has been no special 

 change in the abundance of blue-fish. They are quite sutHcieut in 

 number to supply the demand for them and to make great inroads upon 

 the other fishes, some of which, like the menhaden and mackerel, would 

 perhaps, if undisturbed by the blue-fish, be more valuable than they 

 are at present. They have now been with us for fifty years. Their 

 numbers are subject to periodical variation, of the cause of which we 

 are ignorant. It is to be regretted that there are no records of it in 

 the South Atlantic States. If such existed, we might, perhaps, learn 

 from them that the blue-fish remained in those waters while absent 

 from the northern coasts. Only one statement is to be found which 

 covers this period, although Lawson, in his " History of North Caro- 

 lina," published in 1709, and Gatesby, in his '* Natural History 



