THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 161 
Many instances are on record of the successful transportation of fishes, 
both fresh and salt water species, to localities previously uninhabited 
by them, and very extended efforts are now being made, promising the 
fullest measure of success, to carry the shad and the eel of the Atlantic 
coast to the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific slope, as well as the tau- 
tog, the lobster, and the oyster, and to transfer the California salmon 
and trout to the Mississippi Valley and the eastern coast of the United 
States, the carp from Germany to America, &c. Less has been done in 
this direction with the sea fishes, although even here there is something 
to record. It is said that the Scarus, a well-known labroid fish of the 
Aigean Sea, was brought, in the timé of the Emperor Claudius, to the 
coast of Italy and planted near the mouth of the Tiber. They were 
protected from capture for five years, at the end of which time they 
swarmed in enormous abundance and constituted an important element 
in the Roman fisheries, being considered one of the greatest delicacies. 
(Report U.S. F. C., II], p. 10). In the United States the scup is said 
to have been carried in a smack from Vineyard Sound to Cape Cod Bay, 
and that a similar experiment was made in a transfer of the tautog both 
to Massachusetts Bay and the South Carolina coast. 
The attention paid by the early Romans to securing an ample supply 
of fish is well understood, as also the enormous expense of their opera. 
tions in the construction and maintenance of fish ponds, &c. Among 
the most highly esteemed species were the red mullet (mullus), and the 
sea eel, the latter being kept in tanks constructed for the purpose, and 
fed, in some cases, it is said, with the flesh of slaves, as imparting an 
added delicacy. Theintroduction of fish from distant points was there 
practiced to a greater or less extent. 
The limitations of temperature, however, and appropriate food, will 
probably determine what may be accomplished in the way of exchanges 
between the northern and southern coasts of the United States; and 
there are a few species in European waters the introduction of which 
it will be well to attempt, especially if brought into waters of the same 
general physical conditions. Among such desiderata may be reckoned 
more especially the turbot and sole, which constitute the most impor- 
tant element in the beam-trawl fisheries, and which, as already ex: 
plained, always command a high price. There seems no good reason 
why these fish might not become, in a few years, after a successful 
transfer of a few individuals, as abundant as they are on the European 
coasts. Av ample supply of suitable food and of the necessary exter- 
nal conditions could be assured to the new-comers. The experiment 
would perhaps succeed best on the eastern coast of Massachusetts, 
_ where the conditions are quite similar to those of their native habitat, 
Ms 
i 
f 
‘ 
If they were found to thrive in the region south of Cape Cod, an 
enormous fishery might in time be assured in view of the adaptation 
of the waters to successful beam-trawling. 
As a return to Europe for the contribution of the turbot and sole 
S. Mis. 90——11 
