REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



103 



Season in R. I.: Plentiful some years; rare, others. Taken in autumn 

 around Newport and Narragansett Pier, but more abundant at Point 

 Judith. More rare formerly, but of late becoming more common. 

 Forty to sixty have been taken in one trap at one time. Present in 

 Rhode Island waters from May or June to November, but most num- 

 erous in July. Mr. Brownell, of Tiverton, says that in the autumn of 

 1904 he ran through an immense school of this species, extending for 

 ten miles. Specimen taken at Quonset Point trap July, 1908. In the 

 years from 1903 to 1908, 752 horse-mackerel were shipped from New- 

 port. The following table shows their distribution by months and 

 years: 



85. 



Reproduction: It is said to spawn in June. 



Food : Menhaden, mackerel, dog-fish, and other small fishes. 



Rate of Growth: The recently hatched young, according to Yarrell, 

 weigh 1^ ounces, and grows to four ounces in August, and to thirty 

 ounces in October (Bean, 1903). The largest ever taken weighed 

 1,500 pounds; the largest on record from Rhode Island, caught by 

 Mr. Brownell, weighed 750 pounds. 



Sarda sarda (Bloch). Bonito. 



Geog. Dist.: Atlantic Ocean of both coasts, north to Maine. The limit 

 of its northern range is usually stated as Cape Cod or Cape Ann. 

 Yet it has been reported from Maine, at Harpswell, Casco Bay (Bow- 

 doin College, 1890). On Massachusetts coast, reported from many 



