REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. CXXI 



ecbiDoderms; Mr. W. A. Eedenbaugh, Dartmouth College, nervous sys- 

 tem of horseshoe crab; Mr. H. M. Chase, Dartmouth College, anatomy 

 of elasmobranchs; Mr. Ellis Kerr, Northwestern University, urino- 

 genital system of amphibia; Mr. H. B. Cragin, IsTorth western Univer- 

 sity, development of olfactory nerve and histogenesis of nasal epithelium 

 in Amhlystoma; Mr. W. H. Dudley, anatomy and development of the 

 lateral-line sense organs in killifish; Dr. H. V. ISTeal. 



NOTES ON FISHES, FISH-FOOD, AND FISH DISEASES. 



Reappearance of tilefisli. — The history of the discovery of the tilefish 

 {Lopholatilus chamceleoiiticeps) in 1879, followed by its almost complete 

 extermination from natural causes in 1882, forms one of the most inter- 

 esting chapters in connection with the food-fishes of the Atlantic coast. 

 In 1892 the Grampus, as a result of a special search, succeeded in taking 

 8 specimens between Marthas Vineyard and the capes of Delaware, the 

 first that had been met with since the great mortality which befell the 

 species ten years previously. In 1897 the tilefish was accidentally 

 taken in such numbers as to suggest a considerable body of fish and to 

 warrant the hope that the early expectations of its taking a i^lace 

 among the food products of the country may eventually be realized. The 

 78-ton schooner Mabel Kenniston, of Gloucester, Mass., was overtaken by 

 a gale on Georges Bank on February 8, 1897, and was blown 120 miles 

 to the westward. After the gale was over haddock trawls were set in 

 G5 fathoms of water, and when the lines were hauled 30 tilefish were 

 caught, weighing from G to 15 pounds apiece. Dogfish were very abun- 

 dant and troublesome, otherwise the captain thought he would have 

 taken fully 100 tilefish. They were landed at Gloucester February 16, 

 and were all eaten locally and pronounced '' better than salmon." The 

 weather was very thick, and the vessel's position when fishing could not 

 be definitely determined, but it was 104 miles southwest of No Man's 

 Land, in latitude about 39° 40' and longitude about 72° 10'. 



The hluejin ivhitejish in LaJce Superior. — Up to a few years ago the 

 bluefin or blackfin whitefish {Argyrosomus nigripinnis) was known only 

 from Lake Michigan and some small lakes in Wisconsin and Minnesota. 

 It has recently, however, come into prominence in Lake Superior, where, 

 in some sections, it is now extremely abundant. Vague reports of the 

 occasional capture of a "blackfin" in Lake Superior have reached the 

 Commission from time to time, but it was not until 1897 that specimens 

 of this species came into the possession of the office; these were three 

 in number, and were sent by Mr. S. P. Wires, the superintendent of the 

 Government hatching station at Duluth, Minn. 



The coming into prominence of the bluefin in Lake Superior is analo- 

 gous to that of the longjaw {Argyrosomus prognailiufi) in Lake Ontario. 

 Both were brought to the notice of the fishermen after a very marked 

 decrease in abundance of the common whitefish ( Goregonus clupeiformis), 

 whose place they seem, to a considerable extent, to have occupied. 



