INTRODUCTION. T 



and Sandy Hook, and they have not been seen east of there for any length 

 of time since abont the first of June. There was a heavy body seen off 

 Khode Island for ten days ; they then disappeared as suddenly as they ap- 

 peared. They struck on again in July, and the waters in this vicinity 

 swarmed with them for two days, and then they again disappeared, and have 

 not been seen since. Off Cuttyhunk, I hear, they were seen in large 

 quantities in July. On the same date they appeared here, and left on the 

 same day. 1 don't think the catch has been much larger this year than 

 last. Last season they were easy to catch ; this season hard to catch. The 

 result has been less catch to a steamer, but there have been more steamers, 

 and the result has been about the same." 



Mr. E. L. Fowler, of Guilford, Ct., writes as follows : "A very few 

 menhaden were caught in this vicinity by the 28th of April. This was 

 about as early as usual. They became abundant by the 10th of July, and 

 have not yet disappeared (November 29th). They have been as plenty as 

 usual in this vicinity, but on the New Jersey coast there has been an un- 

 usually large quantity of them. Our firm, Fowler & Colburn, have used 

 23,500,000 fish." 



Mr. Louis C. d'Homergue, of Brooklyn, writes of the season off New 

 York : " The first menhaden for the season of 1879 were observed in suf- 

 ficient quantities to warrant the commencing of fishing in the vicinity of 

 Barren and Fire Islands on or about the first week in April. They were 

 very abundant in April and May, less so in June and to September, when 

 they began to scatter and spread so that it made it difficult to catch them. 

 The fishermen called them ' wild.' They began to grow scarce from Sep- 

 tember 1st, showing also less oil to the thousand, and continued so doing 

 until September 23d, when, up to October 6th, there came a perfect rush 

 of them, yielding more oil than they had previously : this run over, they 

 again became scarcer and thinner until the fall fishing commenced. 

 Au other run began about the first week in November, and quite a large 

 additional quantity of fish were taken. They seemed to ' bunch up ' well, 

 but were poorer in oil than any previously caught, so that the fall fishing, 

 in point of oil, was a failure. These fish, up to this date (November 27th), 

 are lingering in our waters, but the four factories on Barren Island and the 

 two on Fire Island have been closed since November 24th. My vessels 

 cruised all the season between Fire Island and Barnegat." 



Mr. James E. Otis, of Tuckerton, N. J., writes: "Menhaden were 

 first caught here about April 25th, or nearly two weeks earlier than usual, 

 becoming abundant about the middle of May, and continued so until about 

 the middle of September. They have been very plenty this season along 

 the coast of New Jersey, more so than for four years past. My vessels 

 have taken some 3,000.000 each, the largest single haul being 125,000." 



Mr. W. I). Hall, of Millan Creek, Va., says that in the Chesapeake re- 

 gion menhaden appeared about April 1st, became abundant about May 1st, 

 began to grow scarce about June 15th, and that on November 30th some 

 were still in the bay. 



