348 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OP 



The countless schools of moss-bonkers, most of them of vast extent, 

 seen everywhere on the Atlantic coast, represent a species quite equal 

 in numbers to any other of the same size belonging to our fauna. 



Every bay and river-mouth along our coast is filled with them 

 during the summer, and they can everywhere be taken with great ease. 

 The schools swim at the surface, their dorsal fins projecting above the 

 water, and keeping it in such agitation as to be readily discernible at 

 a great distance. They are generally followed by blue fish, sharks, and 

 other predacious species, which commit such havoc in their ranks, it 

 is said, that the gulls frequently follow in their wake to feed upon the 

 fragments left floating behind. 



The fishermen about Greenport, when in pursuit of moss-bonkers, 

 lie some distance oft' shore, with two seines joined together, each seine 

 resting on a separate boat, provided with its crew. When a school is 

 seen of suflicient size to warrant the trouble, the joined ends of the nets 

 are dropped into the water, and as the boats separate they make a turn, 

 and thus enclose the fish ; the ends of the nets are then taken to the 

 shore, and the net itself drawn up by means of a windlass. Many 

 thousands are taken at a haul, and meet with a ready sale. Quite 

 recently several establishments have been erected on Long Island for 

 the manufacture of oil from the moss-bonker. The fish, as brought in, 

 are chopped up and boiled, and the oil skimmed oft"; a heavy pressure 

 on the residuum expresses the remaining oil, and what is left is still use- 

 ful as a manure. The oil finds a ready market. It has been estimated 

 that a single fish will furnish enough oil to saturate a surface of paper 

 eighteen inches square. 



Most of these fish, however, are used directly as fertilizers, by being 

 ploughed or hoed in the ground. It is quite customary when planting 

 corn to place a fish in each hill, the result being seen in a ver}'^ luxu- 

 riant growth of the plant. 



Besides being taken in the manner just described and by single 

 seines put out from the shore, many are captured in gill-nets set in 

 channels of rivers and other localities frequented by them. Many are 

 taken in this way in the Hudson river and tributaries, as well as else- 

 where. 



Besides its use as manure, the moss-bonker, from its abundance, is 

 employed to a great extent as bait f()r other fishes. Chopped up fine, it 

 constitutes a chief bait for eels in eel-pots, and the flesh is very attrac- 

 tive to the blue fish and other species. When used as food, it is usually 

 skinned, to remove the oilier layer of black fat, and the back bone is 

 generally taken out at the same time. 



The moss-bonker is much infested b}^ a species of lernaean, which 

 is buried in the skin by its star-shaped processes with a long projecting 

 thread. 



The moss-bonker is not much sought after at Beesley's point, nor 

 didi hear of any who made a business of catchingthem there for manure. 



