42 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



ing toward the shores on either side as they advance, nntil arrested 

 by brackish water. The western shore of tbe bay is very shallow, the 

 tide near the beach seldom rising above six or seven feet. When the 

 tide is three-quarters flood the fish run in close to land and are caught 

 within twenty yards of the beach ; from slack water to first quarter ebb, 

 if it is calm, the water is spotted with the break or ripple, and as the 

 tide recedes they float out with it to deep water. Medium and small 

 fish are found together, not probably in tbe same schools, but close 

 enough together for the seine to catch fish ranging in length from three 



to nine inches. 



Coast of New Jersey. 



70. According to Mr. Albert Morris, menhaden make their appear- 

 ance in Great Egg Harbor, Ii^ew Jersey, about May 1, the main body 

 arriving about June, and leaving about the middle of September, the 

 " eastern run" coming along in October or November. 



Mr. A. G. Wolf, keeper of Absecom light, Atlantic City, IST. J., writes 

 that the appearance of the first schools is regular and takes place in 

 April, the main body coming in July. They come from the returning 

 south by degrees in the fall, beginning in September. 



D. E. Foster, of Caj^e May lighthouse, states that they appear from 

 the south about April, larger but not so fat as the second arrivals in 

 July, the majority of which are from four to six inches in length. They 

 disappear in November, heading to the north. 



Eastern end of Long Island. 



71. In the vicinity of Greenport, N. Y., according to Captain Sisson, 

 the first arrivals are in March and April, and according to Mr. Havens, 

 about April 1, while Hawkins Brothers, of Jamesport, put it about the 

 1st of May. These gentlemen agree that the first schools contain the 

 largest fish ; that they are followed for some weeks by other runs, and 

 that the schools leave for the south on the approach of cold weather in 

 October and November. 



Mr. Dudley tells me that his steamer usually starts out from Pine Isl- 

 and from the 1st to the 12th of May. She never fails to find fish out- 

 side of Montauk Point. The gangs which started out for the season, 

 April 20, 1877, found plenty of fat fish on the first day out. 



The late schools of large fish which come upon the Connecticut coast 

 about the 1st of November, and which are supposed to come from the 

 coast of Maine, usually strike across from Watch Hill and Fisher's Island 

 to the Napeague shore, where they sometimes remain several days before 

 their final disappearance from those waters. 



Long Island Sound. 



72. In the westernpartof Long Island Sound, at Stratford, according to 

 Mr. Lillingston, they appear about the 1st of May and remain until Octo- 



