108 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. vi. 



gon vulgaris) unmixed with any other food. This shrimp is 

 very abundant on all sandy bottoms in shallow water along the 

 whole coast, from Labrador to Cape Hatteras, and seems to con- 

 tribute very largely to the food of many of our most valuable 

 fishes. 



The White Perch (^Merone Americana) contained the same 

 shrimp in abundance. 



The Weak-fish [Cynosclon regalis Gill), called 'Blue-fish' at 

 that locality, had its stomach filled with the same Crangon. 



The King-fish [Umhrina regalis) called 'Hake' on the New 

 Jersey coast, contained nothing but Crangon vulgaris. 



The Toad- or Oyster-fish [Batraclius tau) is almost omnivorous. 

 The stomach is large and usually distended with a great variety 

 of food. Young edible CYnhs [Callinectes /lasto^ifs Ordw.) up to 

 two inches across, Crangon vulgaris, and the common prawn 

 {Palcemoa vulgaris Say) were its principal articles of diet at that 

 locality; but pipe-fishes (Si/ngnathus Peckianiis) six inches long, 

 and the common black Nassa [Ihjanassa obsoleta)v^eYe often found 

 in their stomachs, as well as various young fishes of other species, 

 among which were specimens of the Anchovy [Engraulis vittata). 

 The toad-fish is, therefore, a fish that should not be encouraged. 



The Shad (^Alosa tyrannus Gill) contained large quantities of 

 fragments of small Crustacea, chiefly a small shrimp-like species 

 (^Mysis Americanns Smith) which was also captured alive in 

 tide-pools on the salt marsh. Shad from the mouth of the 

 Connecticut River, taken in May, contained the same, or another 

 allied species of Mysis. Some of the shad had also fragments of 

 eel-grass (perhaps accidental) mixed with the crustacean frag- 

 ments. 



The ' Hickory Shad ' (^Meletta Mattaicocca^ , the young called 

 *■ Herring ' at the locality, were also filled with comminuted Crus- 

 tacea, among which the common shrimp [Crangon vulgaris) aovXdi 

 be recognized most frequent. 



The Moss-bunker or Menhaden (^Brevoortia Menhaden Gill), 

 invariably had its stomach and voluminous intestine filled with 

 the soft, oozy mud — containing a large proportion of organic mat- 

 ter — which abounds in the quiet part of this and all similar bays 

 along the coast. This fish appears, therefore, to obtain its nutri- 

 ment by swallowing the mud and digesting the organic particles 

 contained in it, — a mode of feeding for which its complex diges- 

 tive apparatus and toothless mouth are specially adapted. Many 



