44 KEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



end of LoDg Islaud Sound, working to tlie eastward and westward. 

 Tbeir appearance is certain, though their abundance is greater in par- 

 ticular seasons. Thej^ leave gradually iu November and December, 

 working to the westward after leaving the sound. Small and large are 

 mixed indiscriminately in the schools. 



At Block Island, according to Mr. Henry W. Clark, they appear about 

 the 1st of May, and continue running iu until about the middle of June. 

 Their appearance is certain but their number variable. They work iu 

 and out with the tide, but when they are making a passage the tide 

 does not stop them. They start southward about the middle of October, 

 and continue running for a month. 



Mr. Dudley on the scJiools of Eastern Connecticut. 



74. Mr. Dudley, whose vessels ply their nets in both Block Island and 

 Long Island Sounds, tells me that fishing begins at Pine Island from 

 May 1 to May 12, and that for quite a number of years fish have been 

 taken the first day the vessels went out. In 1877 the vessels which 

 started April 20 found plenty of fat fish. Whether the season be hot 

 or cold, the fish come at about the same date. Of late years the first 

 schools have been very fat ; immediately followed a run of poorer fish. 

 The run which begins in the middle of April and continues for three or 

 four weeks, is composed of fish yielding from five to seven or eight gal- 

 lons to the thousand. The next run of fish continues until about the 

 1st of July. These yield not over four gallons. Then follows a poorer 

 run, averaging two gallons. In 1877 millions of fish have been taken 

 which have not averaged above one quart to the thousand. In 1870 it 

 was much the same, but in July* when the poor fish were most abun- 

 dant, a few schools made their appearance which yielded ten gallons to 

 the thousand. Of two gangs, fishing side by side, one might make a 

 haul of ten-gallon fish, while the other secured only half-gallon fish. 

 Good fish are usually expected in the fall. In 1870, however, they were 

 few and poor. In 1877 the schools of fat fish made their ai^pearance 

 near Point Judith on the 30th of October. 



Narragansctt Bay. 



75. At Point Judith they come in from the westward, according to the 

 statement of Joseph Whaley. They appear about the 20th of May, and 

 continue to pass, moving eastward, until July. Their arrival is very 

 regular, but sometimes cold weather and easterly W'inds put them back 

 ten or fifteen days. They begin to leave in October. 



Mr. Daniel T. Church, of Tiverton, R. I., states that the menhaden 

 make their appearance in ISTarragausett Bay about May 1, and continue 

 running in during the season : their arrival in Narragansett Bay for the 

 past eighteen years has been certain, though the time of arrival varies 

 with the weather 5 they drift with the tide at times, and at others swim 

 against it. No fish are taken in the purse-nets after the cold weather 



