18 INLAND FISHERIES. 



first appear along the shores of Vineyard Sound, about the middle of 

 August, are about five inches in length. B}^ the beginning of Septem- 

 ber, however, they have reached six or seven inches, and on their 

 reappearance in the second year they measure about twelva or fifteen 

 inches. After this they increase in a still more rapid ratio. A fish 

 which passes eastward from Vineyard Sound in the spring, weighing 

 five pounds, is represented, according to the general impression, by 

 the ten to fifteen pound fish of the autumn. 



If this be the fact, the fish of three or four pounds which pass along 

 the coast of North Carolina in March return to it in October weighing 

 ten to fifteen pounds. 



*'As already explained, the relationship of these fish to the other 

 inhabitants of the sea is that of an unmitigated butcher ; and it is able 

 to contend successfully with any other species not superior to itself in 

 size. It is not known w^hether an entire school ever unite in an attack 

 upon a particular object of prey, as is said to be the case with the 

 ferocious fishes of the South American rivers ; should they do so, no 

 animal however large, could withstand their onslaught. 



''They appear to eat anything that swims of suitable size — fish of 

 all kinds, but perhaps more especially the menhaden, which they seem 

 to follow along the coast, and which they attack with such ferocity as 

 to drive them on the shore, where they are sometimes pilled up in 

 windrows to the depth of a foot or more. 



'' The amount of food they destroy, even if the whole of it be not 

 actually consmmed, is almost incredible. Mr. Westgate (page 33) 

 estimates it at twice the weight of the fish a day, and this is perhaps 

 quite reasonable. Captain Spindle goes so far as to say that it will 

 destroy a thousand fish a day. This gentleman is also of the opinion 

 that they do much more harm to the fishes of the coast than is caused 

 by the pounds. They will generally swallow a fish of a very large 

 size in proportion to their own, sometimes taking it down bodily ; at 

 others, only the posterior half. The peculiar armor of certain fish 

 prevents their being taken entire ; and it is not uncommon to find the 

 head of a sculpin or other fish, whose body has evidently been cut off 



