298 AMERICAN FISHES. 



cities like Boston and Portland. They are also taken in immense 

 quantities in nets. The Irish market-boats of Boston make a special 

 business of catching them, using circular nets three or four feet in diameter 

 which are baited and set among the rocks. Dr. Storer records that on the 

 occasion of his visit to Labrador, in 1849, he found them so plentiful in 

 the Gut of Canso, that by sinking a basket with a salt fish tied therein for 

 bait, he continually caught them by the score, and by putting a few hun- 

 dreds in the well of his sloop, kept the crew well supplied with fish while 

 at sea on the way to Labrador. The people of Nova Scotia, like those 

 south of Cape Cod, rarely if ever eat the Cunner. Mr. J. Matthew 

 Jones informs me that in the summer of 1863, when the French fleet was 

 anchored in Halifax Harbor, the sailors caught them for food in great 

 numbers. About St. Margaret's Bay, according to Mr. Ambrose, they are 

 given as food to pigs ; since, however, the pork of these fish-fed pigs 

 always tastes oily, they are generally fed on some other food for a short 

 time before being killed, and well dosed with sulphur. It was formerly 

 customary in Boston to keep these fish alive for market in large cars, de- 

 scribed by Storer as three feet deep, twelve to fifteen feet long, closed 

 beneath and latticed at the sides, and anchored in deep water. Storer 

 states that sometimes as many as five thousand fish were kept in a single 

 car, and that these cars were replenished every week or fortnight. It is 

 impossible to estimate with any degree of accuracy the quantity of Cun- 

 ners annually taken. The catch of the Irish market-boats of Boston 

 cannot fall much short of 300,000 pounds, and that of the other towns and 

 States on the coast of New England is certain to be from 200,000 to 

 250,000 pounds. 



Several of the Parrot-fishes occur on the Florida coast, notably the 

 Blue Parrot-fish, Platyglossits radiatus (Linn.) Goode, sometimes, accord- 

 ing to Jordan, seen in Key West market, and P. bivatiatus, known in 

 Bermuda as "Slippery Dick," recorded by Jordan from Charleston mar- 

 ket. They are gorgeous in color, but the flesh is so dry that they are held 

 in slight esteem for table use. 



The Red-fish, of California, Trocliocopi'.s pitlcJicr, writes Jordan, is 

 everywhere known as the "Red-fish": the name "Fat-head" is occa- 

 sionally used, and it is \ery rarely called " Sheepshead." It reaches a 

 weight of twelve to fifteen i^ounds. It is found from Point Conception 

 southward to Cerros Island in enormous numbers, in the kelj). It is taken 



