be retained for the " short-nosed species." He mentioned that at 

 the Cambridge Museum there are specimens of the " short- 

 nosed species " which are about two feet in length, thus showing 

 that it is not the young of the E. reticulatus, — which was also 

 proved by the series of specimens exhibited from the Essex In- 

 stitute, which showed the same marked differences in the very 

 young as well as in the older specimens. In conclusion he men- 

 tioned that our fresh-water fishes are as yet but little known, and 

 that there are in the waters of the United States at least forty- 

 five sj)ecies of the old genus Pomotis, and ten or fifteen of the 

 genus Esox, of which very few have been described. 



Mr. Sprague exhibited specimens of large size, presented by 

 him several years ago, confirming the opinion of Mr. Putnam. 



Capt. Atwood presented a specimen of Nducrates, or pilot fish, 

 well known to seamen as accompanying their vessels for long dis- 

 tances ; this was caught in a mackerel net in Provincetown har- 

 bor in October, 1858, and was the first that he had heard of in 

 our waters ; a northern whaler had come into the harbor a few 

 days before, and the fish perhaps followed the vessel in. He 

 presented a squid, differing from the Loligo illecehrosa ; appear- 

 ing on our coast in June, while the latter does not arrive until 

 August. He also gave some bivalve shells and a Margarita 

 from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



Capt. Atwood stated that fish are often swallowed by the cod, 

 pass from their stomach into the abdominal cavity, and are there 

 found " mummified " and adherent to the inner walls ; he pre- 

 sented a specimen, apparently of the eel family, thus preserved 

 and hardened, which he had taken from the abdominal cavity of 

 a pollock. Cod are often so wounded by the hooks that the intes- 

 tines hang out in the water, and yet such fish are seen swimming 

 about with the rest without apparent suffering, and he had no 

 doubt that they bite at the hooks in a few days. He presented 

 two large cod hooks, with portions of the line attached, which he 

 had taken from the livers of apparently healthy cod ; the greater 

 part of the hooks was buried in the organ, and must have re- 

 mained there, he thought, at least twelve months ; they must have 

 been swallowed, broken off, and have worked their way through 

 the stomach into the liyer. 



