THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 337 



25. Argyreiosus capillaris, DeKay. 



The Hair-Jinned Dory. 



Argyreiosus capillaris^ DeKay, New York Fauna, Fishes, 125, plate 



xxvii, fig. 82. 



One specimen was taken in August while hauling the seine in the 

 surf. 



26. Temnodon saltator, Cuv. and Val. 



The Blue Fish — Horse-MacJcerd — Skip-Jack. 



Temnodon saltator, Cuv. and Val., Hist. Nat. des Poiss. TX, 225, 

 plate 260. DeKay, New York Fauna, Fishes, 130, plate xxvi, 

 fig. 81. 



The blue fish, or horse-mackerel, as it is called at Beesley's point, 

 arrives in the bay early in the spring, accompanying the weak fish in 

 its migration and preying habitually upon it. It is not usual to take 

 them of large size during the summer ; later in the season, however, 

 specimens of two and three pounds are not unfrequently captured. 

 Their usual size in August was from eight to twelve inches. The very 

 3'oung ones were found abundant at Corson's inlet, measuring two or 

 three inches in length. At this age they are much more compressed 

 than afterwards. 



The blue fish is one of the most voracious fishes on the coast. It bites 

 readily at any object drawn rapidly through the water, as a bone 

 squid, or metal spoon, minnow, white rag, and, in fact, any con- 

 spicuous bait. They are generally caught by trolling on the surface of 

 the water, best by sailing back and forth across a channel way, when 

 the wind and tide are in opposite directions. Unless the line is armed 

 with quill near the hook, or wired for a short distance, it is cut off by 

 the sudden snap of their nipper-like teeth, this species ranking with 

 the shark in the facility with which it takes off" the hook. 



The blue fish keeps near the surface of the water, and frequently 

 leaps some distance into the air. It preys habitually upon the weak 

 fish, and its ravages among the latter species seem to have diminished 

 greatly its numbers off the coasts of New York and New England. It 

 finds, likewise, an easy prey in the schools of Mossbunkers, among 

 which it is said to commit such havoc that the gulls are attracted far 

 and near in quest of the bits of flesh and mutilated fish which float on 

 the surface. 



Such congregations of birds often indicate to the fishermen the pre- 

 sence of blue fish on his grounds. 



This species, like the weak fish, runs up the mouths of rivers even 



to where the water is comparatively fresh. Small ones were very 



abundant at Sing Sing the past summer, and were caught readily frora 



the rocks or along the wharves. They were known as white fish. 



Mis. Doc. 24 22 



