No. 1.] VERRILL— THE FOOD OF FISHES, 107 



4th. That such portions of the ghicier as were pushed over the 

 tops of these hills, or through the narrow valleys between them, 

 conformed in some degree to the slope of the surfaces over which 

 they moved. 



5th. The erosion effected by the glacier was chiefly in the 

 softer rocks of the country ; the harder ones resisting the attritive 

 power of the ice, and preserving with comparatively little change 

 their Pre-glacial outline. 



ON THE FOOD AND HABITS OF SOME OF OUR 



MARINE FISHES. 



By Professor A. E. Verrill. 



"When we consider the great importance and extent of our fish- 

 eries, it seems very remarkable that so little reliable information 

 has been recorded concerning the habits, even of our most common 

 and important species of fishes. It is certainly true that the habits 

 of fishes, and especially of marine fishes, are more difficult to ob- 

 serve than those of birds and beasts, but this ought not to be a 

 sufficient excuse at the present day, for the marked neglect of this 

 department of Natural History. The nature of the food of the 

 more abundant species, even including those that are most com- 

 monly sold as food, is still very imperfectly known. Observations 

 must be made in great numbers in various localities and at all 

 seasons of the year before we can obtain adequate knowledge of 

 this subject. 



During several years past I have improved such opportunities 

 as have occurred to make observations of this kind, and although 

 they are very incomplete, and often isolated, I am induced to 

 present some of the facts thus ascertained, hoping that the atten- 

 tion of others may be directed to the same subject. 



While spending a few days at Great Egg Harbor, on the coast 

 of New Jersey, in April of this year, I dissected the stomachs of 

 many specimens of the common fishes, which were at that time 

 being taken in seines in the shallow water of the bay near Bees- 

 ley's Point. The following were the principal results, in regard 

 to their food. The Striped-bass, or ' Bock ' (^Rocrus llneatus 

 Gill) had its stomach filled with large quantities of shrimp {Cran- 



