70 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



idissima), the alewife {Pomolobus pseudoliarengiis)^ the mattowacca {Porno- 

 lohus mediocris), and perhaps the striped bass {Eoccus lineatus) and the 

 smelt {Osmerus mordax)', among the shore-spawning species, in the 

 north, the capelin (Mallotiis villosiis), the launce {Ammodytes lanceolatus), 

 and the herring {Clupea liarengus) ; in the south, the scuppaug {Stenoto- 

 mus argyrops), sheepshead {Archosargus prohatocephalus), the sea-bass 

 (Centropristis atrarius), the atherines (C/wrostowm notatum), the mullet 

 {Mugll, sp.), and the mackerel {Scomber scombrus); and among the off- 

 shore spawners the pompano {Trachynotus caroUnus), the sqiieteague 

 {Cynoscion caroUnensis and C. regalis), the menhaden {Brevoortia tyran- 

 mis), and probably the bluefish {Fomatomus saltatrix). 



14. — The movements of the schools. 

 Habits of the schooling fish, 



92. Making their appearance in our waters in the early spring, they 

 rapidly increase in abundance until the sea appears to be alive with 

 them. They delight to play in inlets and bays, such as Chesapeake Bay, 

 Delaware Bay, Great Egg Harbor, Long Island, Block Island and the 

 Vineyard sounds, IsTarragansett Bay, Buzzard's Bay, and the numerous 

 narrow fiords on the coast of Maine. They seem particularly fond of 

 shallow waters protected from the wind, in which, if not molested, they 

 will remain throughout the season, drifting, with the tide, in and out of 

 the shallow indentations of the shore and into the mouths of creeks 

 and rivers. Brackish water attracts them, and they abound at the 

 mouths of streams, especially on the Southern coast. They ascend the 

 Saint John's Eiver more than thirty miles, the Saint Mary's, theNeuse, the 

 York, and Rappahannock. The Potomac they ascend nearly to Wash- 

 ington, a distance of sixty miles, and the Patuxent to Marlborough. In 

 these rivers they come soon after the shad, and are so troublesome to 

 the fishermen that their presence is easily determined. 



I am not aware that this difficulty occurs in northern rivers. Pro- 

 fessor Baird found them in the Hudson and its tributaries in the sum- 

 mer of 1854.* 



They enter the Housatonic late in the summer. I am not aware that 

 they ascend the Connecticut to any considerable distance from its mouth.f 



They are found in the Mystic, Thames, and Providence Eivers, in the 

 creeks on Cape Cod, in the mouth of the Merrimac Eiver, and in some 

 of the large rivers of Maine, such as the Kennebec and Penobscot. 



Boardman and Atkins state that fish caught in the brackish water of 

 the rivers are generally inferior as to fatness, " a fact indicating that they 

 find there a poor feeding ground, and also that their stay there is 

 long enough to affect their condition." 



'Fishes of the New Jersey Coast, 1855, p. 34. 



tXhis is perhaps due to the swift current of the river. Sea-going vessels fill their 

 ■water-barrels at Essex, six miles from the bar. 



