40 APPENDIX. 



grounds, and also catches marketed there from the shore fisheries, were 

 carefully inspected, and all information that could be obtained relating to 

 the capture and condition of the fish, etc., was fully noted. Through the 

 courtesy of Hon. E. G. Blackford convenient office and laboratory accommo- 

 dations were provided ; and to him, as well as to the other prominent fish- 

 dealers of New York, Mr. Hardin was indebted for the means of carrying 

 on his work successfully. Mr. Hardin reached New York about the middle 

 of April, and continued there until the end of the first week in May, when he 

 was replaced by Dr. Wolhaupter, who remained until the close of that month. 



" Some of the observations made this year at Fulton Market relative to 

 the spawning season and habits of the mackerel were especially interesting. 

 The first fish received were two individuals caught in shad nets on the coast of 

 North Carolina on April the 6th and 8th. The first fare brought in from the 

 off-shore grounds consisted of 7700 mackerel taken in a purse-seine on April 

 17, about 65 miles south-east of Cape Henry. They measured from 10 to 

 17^- inches long. In some of the larger of these fish the reproductive organs 

 were found to be spent, indicating that they had already spawned, and giving 

 an earlier date for the beginning of the spawning season, at least in some 

 years, than had previously been supposed. The location where the spawning had 

 taken place could not, of course, be told ; but that it was not situated close to 

 the shore would seem to be shown by the fact that never more than small 

 quantities of mackerel are ever taken so far south in the shore apparatus. In 

 several subsequent purse-seine catches made off the Virginia coast up to the 

 last of April, and even into May, the same conditions were observed, more or 

 less, of the fish having apparently spawned, while in others the eggs were 

 approaching maturity ; but in no case did the fish seem actually to have been 

 spawning at the time when taken. It should be explained in this connection, 

 however, that only a relatively small nunaber of the fish from each fare 

 marketed could be obtained for examination, and are the basis for the facts 

 above mentioned. 



" About May 1st the shore nets on Long Island and along the southern 

 coast of New England began to take their first mackerel, which appeared 

 latest and continued longest at the eastern end. The fish whicli reached New 

 York from this region were either in spawning condition or nearly ripe." 



